UC-NRLF 


THE 


POETS  AND  POETRY 
OF  AMERICA 


A    SATIRE    BY    "  I.AVANTK,"  RF.IM  ROM    THE 

IN      II1IL. \DFirMIA     IN 

1847.      WITH    AN    INTRODUCTORY    ARGU- 
MENT \RLES,    TO 
W    THAT     IT   WAS   NSkI 


if 


EDGAR    ALLAN     POE 


NEW  YORK 
\JAMIN    &    HI  I  I 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY 

OF 

AMERICA 

A  SATIRE 
(By  "LAVANTK,"  published  in  Philadelphia,  1847) 


WITH  AM  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT 

TO  PROVE  THAT  "  LAV ANTE  "  WAS 

EDGAR    ALLAN    POE 

AND  AM  APPENDIX  or  NOTES  BY 

GEOFFREY    QUARLES 

"A  *atir«  fa,  of  course,  no  /*r«r."— POB 
L       - 


NEW   YORK 

BENJAMIN    AND    BI.I.I. 
1887 


COPYRIGHT,  1887,  BY 
BENJAMIN    &    BELL. 


TROW8 

PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY, 
NEW  YORK. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 
SATIRE. 

INDEX  TO  SATIRE. 
•NOTES. 


*  THE 

UHIVBRSITT 


INTRODUCTORY   AROTMKNT. 


POE    (/<*/)  +  POE    (eccentric)  =  "  LAVANTE." 

WHILE  pursuing  a  course  of  reading  in  quite  an- 
other direction  than  that  of  either  satire  or  Poc,  the 
small  publication  which  is  the  subject  of  this 
argument  came  before  our  notice.  The  title  prom- 
ised something  of  interest,  a  cursory  perusal  provoked 
the  surmise  that  this  was  no  ordinary  production, 
and  soon  the  irresistible  impression  forced  itself — 
"  surely  this  must  be  the  work  of  Poc 

Then  followed  the  natural  distrust  of  so  rapid  a 
judgment,  and  the  improbabilities  trooped  up  in  for- 
midable array, — can  it  be  that  th<  ;  contem- 
poraries of  the  poet  know  nothing  of  this  ;  can  it  be 
that  the  biographers  of  Poe  have  never  heard  of  it ; 
can  it  he  that  this  "  Lavantc  "  is  unknown  to  the  dic- 
tionary-makers and  the  writers  of  the  time  ?  These 
and  many  other  difficulties  suggested  themselves,  yet 
the  careful  re-perusal  of  the  satire  only  deepened  the 
original  impression  into  something  very  like  convic- 
tion, until  the  case,  after  investigation,  stood,  and 
Is  thus  :  Either  Poe  wrote  this  satire,  or  some- 
body else,  still  unknown,  wrote  it  with  Poe's  ex 
ence,  Poe's  doctrines,  Poc's  animus,  and  in  Poe's 
language. 

As  a  matter  of  course  we  set  about  a  systematic 
inquiry  in  cr  promised  to  yield  practical  re- 


6  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

suits,  and  it  has  been  as  exhaustive  as  has  been 
practicable.  The  list  of  publications  searched  in 
this  quest  may  as  well  be  given  at  once. 

Griswold's  edition  of  Foe's  Works,  with  Life,  4 
vols.  Ingram's  Life*  Letters,  and  Opinions  of  Poe,  2 
vols.,  1880.  Gill's  Life  of  Foe.  R.  H.  Stoddard's 
New  Memoir  of  Poe,  1887.  Woodberry's  Biography 
of  Poe,  American  Men  of  Letters,  1885.  Stedman's 
Essay  on  Poe,  American  Poets,  1884.  The  Broad- 
way Journal,  1845  ;  American  Literary  Magazine, 
1847-48;  Godefs  Lady's  Book,  1847-48;  Southern 
Literary  Messenger,  1835-36-37,  1845-48;  Southern 
Literary  Journal,  1836;  Graham's  Magazine,  1841— 
48;  LittelPs  Living  Age,  1847-48;  Southern  Quar - 
terly  Review,  1847-48  ;  Literary  American,  1848  ; 
Evening  Mirror,  1841-42  ;  Philadelphia  Ledger 
(daily),  1847  ;  Dictionary  of  Pseudonyms  (Gushing 
and  Frey)  ;  ditto  (Haynes)  ;  Hudson's  History  of 
American  Journalism;  Poole's  Index  of  Periodical 
Literature;  Allibone's  Dictionary  of  Authors ;  L. 
A.  Wilmer's  Our  Press  Gang,  1859;  Mrs.  Whit- 
man's Poe  and  his  Critics,  1860,  besides  notable 
articles  on  Poe  in  the  North  American  Review,  1856, 
and  in  later  American  and  English  magazines.  Per- 
sonal inquiries  have  also  been  made  of  eminent  libra- 
rians and  contemporary  authors  of  note.  The  sum- 
total  of  all  these  investigations  is  that  no  one  of  these 
showed  any  knowledge  whatever  of  "  Lavante,"  nor, 
in  fact,  of  the  existence  of  the  satire  until  informed 
of  it.  This  negative  evidence  being  confirmatory, 
so  far  as  it  counts,  of  the  theory  here  discussed,  it 
remains  only  to  lay  the  facts  before  the  reader,  and 
commend  them  to  his  consideration. 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT.  7 

The  satire  is  written  in  heroic  couplets  in  the  man- 
ner of  Dryden,  Pope,  and  their  imitators.  It  is 
fairly  well  printed,  in  mere  pamphlet  form,  small  oc- 
tavo, or  I2mo,  and  the  poem  of  about  950  lines 
fills  33  pages.  The  title-page  (which  we  reproduce 
almost  in  fac-simile)  contains  no  name  of  author,  but 
the  foot  of  the  poem  has  the  signature  "  Lavante." 
It  seems  to  have  been  a  cheap  production,  five  or 
ten  cents  at  most.  '  The  appearance  of  the  thing  is 
altogether  against  its  being  a  work  of  merit  We 
took  it  up  as  a  purely  local  trifle,  probably  coarse, 
certainly  ephemeral ;  it  was  its  intrinsic  merit  that 
won  closer  attention. 

It  is  of  some  importance  to  introduce  the  satire  by 
observations  of  an  a  priori  character.  Poe  was  not 
an  ordinary  man,  and  any  work  of  his  is  not  to  be 
correctly  judged  by  ordinary  standards.  In  th 
stance  it  is  advisable  and  necessary  to  review  the 
antecedent  probabilities  and  the  circumstantial  evi- 
dence before  examining  the  claims  of  the  satire  it- 
self. It  may  be  said  by  some,  at  the  outset,  that 
Poe  never  did  write  a  poetical  satire,  ergo  it  is  very 
unlikely  that  this  should  be  his.  We  therefore  pro- 
ceed to  combat  any  such  prejudice  by  showing  that 
the  improbability  is  by  no  means  so  great  as  may  be 
supposed.  The  subject  may  be  considered  thus  : 
.  the  arguments  in  favour  of  the  Poe  authorship  ; 
second,  the  arguments  against  it  being  the  produc- 
tion of  another  pen  ;  and,  third,  the  characteristics 
and  intrinsic  quality  of  the  satire. 

>t,  then,  it  is  undoubted  that  Poe  had  the  gift 
of  satire,  and  the  animus  to  exercise  it.  The  story 
of  his  career  is  the  story  of  conscious  genius  imper- 


8  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

fectly  appreciated,  of  ambition  foiled,  thwarted,  and 
soured  into  the  bitterest  scorn  and  spite.  In  his 
masterly  and  profoundly  sympathetic  essay  Mr.  E. 
C.  Stedman  speaks  of  the  "  obvious  ferocity"  of 
Poe's  keen  satire,  which  "  raised  a  hubbub  in  its 
day  and  made  him  the  bogey  of  his  generation." 
This  "  Lavante  "  satire  is  the  handiwork  of  a  disap- 
pointed poet,  who  resolves  to  wind  up  long  years  of 
writhing  under  the  consciousness  of  being  unappre- 
ciated and  misjudged,  by  putting  on  record  his  pro- 
test, his  defence,  his  theory  of  true  poetry,  and 
his  reasons  for  begrudging  the  laurels  bestowed  on 
his  less  worthy  contemporaries,  whom  he  satirizes 
by  name.  In  the  admirable  "  Life "  by  Ingram 
(vol.  i. ,  p.  92)  it  is  stated  that  young  Poe  used  to  write 
lively  squibs  and  satires  at  West  Point,  "  upon  which 
his  reputation  had  been  built  up."  A  stronger  tes- 
timony is  that  of  the  series  of  papers  entitled  the 
"  Autography,"  on  which  the  above-named  work 
may  again  be  quoted  (vol.  i.,  p.  130).  In  the  South- 
ern Literary  Messenger  (December,  1835)  Poe  "  com- 
menced that  system  of  literary  scarification — that 
crucial  dissection  of  book-making  mediocrities — 
which,  while  it  created  throughout  the  States  terror 
of  his  powerful  pen,  at  the  same  time  raised  up 
against  him  a  host  of  implacable  although  unknown 
enemies,  who  henceforth  never  hesitated  to  ^accept 
and  repeat  any  story  to  his  discredit."  This  series 
of  satires  was  elaborated,  according  to  Mr.  Wood- 
berry  in  his  well-weighed,  just,  and  comprehensive 
Life  of  Poe,  p.  153  (American  Men  of  Letters  series), 
into  "  a  concise  view  of  over  a  hundred  native 
writers,  in  three  papers,  entitled  '  Autography/  an 


.TRODCCTORY  ARGCME.\'T.  9 

expansion  of  similar  articles  in  the  Messenger  for 
1836."  We  shall  recur  to  these  "  Autography  "  pa- 
pers ;  for  the  present  it  suffices  to  state  that  they  exhib- 
it a  powerful  gift  of  satire  and  an  abundant  animus. 

Evidence  of  both  the  power  and  the  will  to  pulver- 
ize his  rivals  in  poetry  and  journalism  teems  through 
all  Poe's  critical  writings.  He  practically  created 
the  art  of  sound,  scientific  criticism  in  this  country. 
He  held  clear  views,  and  stated  them  with  a  force 
which,  if  not  always  gracious  in  it  gracefully 

put.  This  won  him  the  applause  of  the  general 
reader,  but  also  the  ill-will  of  the  writers  with  whom 
he  had  to  compete,  and  the  editors  on  whose  favour 
he  had  to  rely  for  employment  and  fame. 

N.  P.  Willis,  for  whom  Poc  sub-edited  the  / 
ing  Mirror  in  1844,  tells  how  he  had  occasionally  to 
request  Poe  "to  erase  a  passage  coloured  too  lr 
with  his  resentments  against  society  and  mankind  " 
(Ingram,  i.,  262).    About  the  same  time  Poe  wrote  a 
caustic  satire  on  "The  Mutual  Adm  ricty 

of  Editors,  entitled  'The  Literary  Life  of  Thingum 
Bob,  Esq.1"  The  "Autography"  satires  extended 
from  1835  to  1841,  and  it  is  to  be  noted,  as  bearing 
upon  the  date  of  the  "  Lavante  "  poem  (1847),  th.u 
Poe  waxed  more  bitter  and  furious  ns  the  years 
by.  In  1845  Poe's  writings  in  the  "  Broadway  Jour- 
nal" then  partly  edited  by  him,  plunged  him  into 
perpetual  troubles,  as  illustrated  in  his  self-defence 
against  the  champions  of  Longfellow,  whom  Poe  so 
bitterly  charged  with  "  plagiarism,"  "  stealing," 
etc.  In  the  same  Journal  :  1845,  ?oe  re- 

produced a  complimentary  parody  of  "  The  Ra 
which  he  headed  "  A  Gentle  Puff."     It  shows  he  was 


10  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

glad  enough  to  avail   himself  of  any  friendly  hand. 
The  lines,  of  course,  refer  to  himself. 

"  Neither  rank  nor  station  heeding,  with  his  foes  around  him 
bleeding, 

Sternly,  singly,   and  alone  his  course  he  kept  upon  that 
floor  ; 

While  the  countless  foes  attacking,  neither  strength  nor  val- 
our lacking, 

On  his  goodly  armour  hacking,  wrought  no  change  his  vis- 
age o'er, 

As  with  high  and  honest  aim  he  still  his  falchion  proudly 
bore, 

Resisting  error  evermore." 

In  the  same  pages  Poe  gives  this  farther  proof  of 
his  animosity  by  declaring  "  we  ourselves  have  had 
the  honour  of  being  pirated  without  mercy  ;  .  .  . 
we  have  written  paper  after  paper  which  attracted  no 
notice  at  all  until  it  appeared  as  original  in  Bentlefs 
Miscellany  or  the  Paris  Charivari.  The  Boston  No- 
tion abused  i  The  House  of  Usher,'  but  when  Bentley 
stole  it  and  published  it  anonymously,  the  Notion 
not  only  lauded  it,  but  copied  it  in  toto  "  (Ingram, 
ii. ,  35) .  So  high  was  the  feeling  of  some  literary  cir- 
cles against  Poe's  criticising  pen,  that  in  June,  1846, 
Codecs  Lactys  Book — in  which  Poe  had  been  writ- 
ing a  series  of  papers  on  "  The  Literati  "  of  the  day 
— announced  its  receipt  of  anonymous  and  other  let- 
ters bidding  it  be  careful  what  it  allowed  Poe  to  say. 
The  editor  added,  *'  We  are  not  to  be  intimidated," 
and  it  hints  that  false  scandals  were  being  circulated 
to  Poe's  detriment.  Poe  was  plaintiff  in  a  libel  suit 
against  the  Evening  Mirror,  of  which  he  had  been 
sub-editor,  and  was  awarded  substantial  damages,  a 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT.  \  \ 

fact  to  which  we  shall  again  refer  as  having  a  pecu- 
liar significance. 

The  "  Lavante  "  satire  opens  with  a  slash  at  Rufus 
Griswold.  This  notorious  defamer  of  Poe  had  sup- 
planted him  in  the  editorial  chair  of  Graham* s  Jour- 
In  1843  Griswold  produced  his  book  on  the 
"  Poets  of  America,"  which  was  a  brazen  attempt  to 
place  the  poets  upon  the  high  and  low  pedestals  which 
he  decreed  they  were  to  occupy  for  all  time.  Gris- 
wold's  pets  have  mostly  dropped  out  of  the  roll  of  1 
and  among  those  whom  during  their  life  he  tried  to 
damn  with  faint  and  reluctant  praise  was  Edgar  Al- 
lan Poe.  The  "  Lavante"  satire  is  not  long  in  con- 
fessing that  this  Poet-making  presumption  of  Gris- 
wold is  the  prime  cause  ofi:  l>een  penned, 
and  it  heaps  cruel  ridicule  on  his  attempt  to  play 
the  god  and  dispense  his  favours  and  thundcrbo' 

iiim.    \Vlnl--  ( iriswold's  name  is  thus  prominent, 
that  of  Poe  is  NOT  found  among  the  thirty  poets  dealt 
Mr.  George  R.  Graham  says  (1850)  in  his  vindi- 
cation of  Poe  (who  had  been  editor  of  Graha? 
fine)  :  iswold  and  Poe  were  for  years  totally 

uncongenial,  if  not  enemies,  and  during  that  period 
Mr.  Poe,  in  a  scathing  lecture  upon  the  '  Poets  of 
America,1  1843,  gave  Mr.  G.  some  raps  over  the 
knuckles  of  force  sufficient  to  be  remembered.  He 
had,  too,  in  the  exercise  of  his  functions  as  critic, 
put  to  death  summarily  the  literary  reputation  of 
some  of  Mr.  Griswold's  best  friends."  (In  that  crit- 
ique Poe  suggested  that  Griswold  had  accepted  pay- 
ment for  placing  c<  i  "  poets  "  hi; 

Vhat  a  cartoon,"  exclaims  Mr.  Stedman,  "  he 
(Poe)  drew  of  the  writers  of  hU  time— the  corrective 


12  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

of  Griswold's  optimistic  delineations  !  "  We  hope 
Mr.  Stedman's  words  may  be  allowed  to  stand  good 
in  regard  to  this  satire,  to  which  they  so  fitly  apply. 

The  "  Lavante "  satire  was  published  in  1847. 
That  year  stands  out  as  the  darkest  and — judging 
by  the  known  work — the  least  productive  of  Poe's 
life.  His  poor  wife  died  in  January.  He  had  for 
some  time  been  driven  to  drink  by  despair  of  her 
recovery  and  by  despondency  over  his  own  ill-fate. 
After  her  death  he  kept  out  of  sight,  and  told  no  one 
what  he  did.  Says  Ingram  (ii.,  119)  :  "  He  led  a 
secluded  life  with  his  mother-in-law,  .  .  .  rarely 
forsaking  the  precincts  of  his  sorrow-hallowed  cot- 
tage. .  .  .  During  this  time  he  published  little, 
and  that  little  had  been  chiefly  written  previous  to 
1847."  What  was  he  so  secretly  pondering  and  con- 
cocting ?  For  Poe  was  never  idle  in  brain,  though 
he  had  a  strange  love  for  secrecy  and  mystery.  It 
is  said  he  was  planning  "  Eureka,"  but  that  was  not 
all.  (In  the  "New  Memoir"  prefixed  to  the  1887 
Household  edition  of  "  Poe's  Select  Works,"  Mr.  R. 
H.  Stoddard — who  claims  that  his  "is  the  only  life 
of  Poe  which  can  be  said  to  be  written  with  no  inten- 
tion but  that  of  telling  the  truth  " — informs  us  that 
"the  first  traceable  poem  after  the  death  of  Poe's 
wife  was  a  piece  of  indifferent  blank  verse  to  '  M.  L. 
S.'  "  It  is  true  that  these  lines  appeared  in  the 
Home  Journal  of  March,  1847,  but  in  the  above 
edition,  and  in  that  of  Griswold,  they  are  given 
among  the  "  Poems  Written  in  Youth.") 

We  must  go  back  for  a  moment  in  our  quest  of 
Poe's  work  in  the  spring  of  1847. 

In  1843  he  lectured  in  Baltimore   on  "  The  Poets 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT.  13 

and  Poetry  of  America,"  in  which  he  severely  criti- 
cised the  claims  of  the  poets  of  the  time,  and  gave 
Griswold  the  terrible  drubbing  for  his  book,  then  re- 
cently published.     Two  years  later,  in  1845.  I 
peated  this  lecture  in  New  York,  omitting  all  mention 
of  Griswold  (which  omission  will  be  cited  hereaft 
showing  the  variableness  of  Poc's  judgments,  accord- 
ing as  he  needed  favours  from  his  subjects  or  other- 
wise).   The  American  Review ,  February,  1845,  says 
that  in  this  lecture  Poe  "  made  unmitigated  war  upon 
the  prevalent  Puffery,  and  dragged  several  popular 
idols  from  their  pedestals."     He  was  in  turn  made  to 
feel  the  resentment  of  those  he  so  unceremoniously 
degraded,  but  it  only  made  him   the  more  de 
Writing  a  few  weeks  after  this  lecture  Poe  K 

"Could  I  have  invented  any  terms  more  explicit 
wherewith  to  express  my  contempt  of  out 
course  of  corruption  and  puffery,  I  should  have  cm- 
ployed  them  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt.    Should 

>;k  of  anything  more  expressive  hcreaj: 
endeavour  either  to  find  or  make  an  opportunity j 

m  to  the  public"  (Ingram,  i.,  291).  We 
/c  these  words  as  having  a  most  important  bear* 
ing  on  the  following  significant  announcement  ( 
we  quote  from  Woodbcnry,  p.  280)  in  the  Home 
Journal  of  March  20,  1847,  that  there  would  shortly 
be  published  "  The  Authors  of  America,  In  Prose 
and  Verse,  by  Edgar  Allan  Poe."  This,  says  Mr. 
Woodbcrry,  neverappta 

What  more  probable  than  that  Poe  was  secretly 
versifying  the  essence  of  these  lectures,  partly  as  a 
novel  distraction  from  his  overwhelming  trouble, 
partly  in  defiant  revenge  upon  his  censors,  who  kept 


14  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

his  pen  from  work  that  paid,  and  partly  from  another 
set  of  secret  motives  which  will  appear  later. 

But  the  "  Lavante  "  satire  was  anonymous  !  So, 
singularly  enough,  was  the  one  poem  Poe  published 
in  this  same  year,  1847,  the  "  Ulalume,"  which  ap- 
peared in  the  December  American  Review.  And 
how  could  the  note  of  defiance  be  more  clearly 
sounded  than  in  the  words  of  Poe's  letter,  above 
quoted,  unless  it  be  in  the  last  lines  of  the  "  Lavante  " 
satire  : 

"  Should  public  hate  upon  my  pen  react, 
No  matter  this — I  will  not  aught  retract." 

In  this  connection  may  be  noted  the  following  from 
Ingram  (ii.,  102)  :  "  It  was  Poe's  intention  to  repub- 
lish  '  THE  LITERATI  ;  some  Honest  Opinions  about 
Autorial  Merits  and  Demerits,  with  occasional  Words 
of  Personality,  together  with  Marginalia,  Suggestions, 
and  Essays,  by  Edgar  A.  Poe.'  In  December,  1846, 
Poe  writes  :  6  I  am  now  at  this — body  and  soul.'  "  This 
somewhat  ponderous  prospectus  may  or  may  not  have 
been  the  forerunner  of  the  neater  title-page  promised 
in  March,  1847  ;  probably  Poe  had  changed  his  in- 
tention meantime,  as  the  later  one  promised  "  verse." 
Ingram,  who  loses  no  opportunity  to  have  a  pardon- 
able fling  at  Griswold,  remarks  on  this  that  the  MS. 
of  this  work  passed  into  Griswold's  hands  at  Poe's 
death,  and  has  never  been  seen  since.  It  is  true 
that  Griswold  had  such  papers  from  Mrs.  Clemm  as 
were  thought  necessary  for  the  memoir,  but  there 
does  not  seem  sufficient  evidence  to  warrant  this  im- 
putation. If  Poe  altered  his  intention  between  De- 
cember, 1846,  and  March,  1847  (as  he  may  well  have 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT.  15 

done,  for  the  death  of  his  wife  had  a  tremendous  ef- 
fect upon  his  mind  and  his  plans)  there  is  nothing  im- 
probable in  the  supposition  that  the  Home  Jc 
announcement  indicated  his  later  determination  to 
turn  the  prose,  "  honest  opinions    .     .    .    occasional 
words,    .    .    .    marginalia,  suggestions,  and  ess 
into  a  crisp  satire  in  verse.     And  supposing  that  he 
published  this  poem  anonymously,  the  rough  prose 
MS.  would  probably  have  been  destroyed  by  himself, 
to  prevent  identification  by  comparisons. 

Thus  far,  we  have  ascertained  that  Poe  had  ample 
grounds  for  feeling  aggrieved  at  his  contemporary 
poets  and  journalists  ;    that  he  gratified  his  desire 
for   revenge    by   satirizing    them    persistently    and 
:  ously  in  his  prose  writings  ;  that  he  satirized 
in  lectures  ;  that  he  burned  to  lash  them  in 
some  enduring  composition,  and  pledged  himself  to 
do  so  in  verse ;  that  he  had  a  long  leisure  tim 
sore  need  for  some  light  t  >uM  mitigate 

his  gloom  after  his  wife's  death  in  1847  ;  that  he  is- 
sued one  of  his  best  poems  anonymously  in  that 
:  and  that  the  defiant  tone  in  which  he  lectured 
and  wrote  is  precisely  the  dominant  note  of  the 
"  Lavantc  "  satire.  It  appears  possible  thai  a  new 
objection,  or  difficulty,  may  lurk  in  the  following  re- 
mark by  Mr.  Stoddard,  the  objection  that  the  pub- 
lishers were  no  great  friends  of  Poe,  and  that  the 
poet  himself  was  too  poor  to  publish  on  his  own  ac- 
count. Mr.  Stoddard  says,  of  this  period  following 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Poe  in  January,  1847,  "how  Poe 
contrived  to  live  we  have  to  conjecture,  for  he  is  not 
known  to  have  done  any  literary  work,  from  which 
he  could  have  derived  money  as  he  needed  it."  It 


1 6  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

is  unfortunate  that  Mr.  Stoddard  omits  a  fact  which 
we  submit  has  a  very  significant  bearing  on  our  ar- 
gument, viz.  :  the  fact  that  Poe  received  $225  as 
damages  in  his  action  against  the  Evening  Mirror 
for  libel.  With  the  legal  expenses  this  cost  the  Mir- 
ror $492.  According  to  Poe  himself,  this  was  on 
the  1 7th  February,  and  the  announcement  of  the 
new  publication,  "  in  prose  and  verse,  by  E.  A. 
Poe,"  appeared  on  the  2Oth  March.  Considering 
his  intention,  his  leisure,  his  disgust  at  the  publish- 
ers, and  his  sudden  acquisition  of  (to  him)  so  large  a 
sum,  it  seems  highly  probable  that  Poe  would  spend 
$50  or  so  on  the  secret  gratification  of  his  cherished 
whim. 

Passing  now,  and  as  briefly  as  possible,  to  the 
second  set  of  considerations,  we  found  there  were 
two  writers  of  satire  who  might  possibly  have 
written  this  of  "  Lavante,"  and  of  these  the  condi- 
tions seemed  to  suit  one.  His  name  has  already 
been  given  in  the  list  of  works  consulted,  Lambert 
A.  Wilmer.  Curiously  enough,  the  only  clew  to 
Wilmer  as  a  satirist  we  have  found  is  in  Poe's  well- 
known  review  of  "  The  Quacks  of  Helicon,"  by  this 
author.  This  remarkable  critique  at  first  seemed  to 
dispose  of  the  notion  that  Poe  was  "  Lavante." 
Further  acquaintance  with  it,  however,  strongly  con- 
firmed the  original  impression,  as  will  be  gathered 
from  what  follows.  We  have  not  been  able  to  dis- 
cover "  The  Quacks  of  Helicon,"  nor  converse  with 
anyone  who  has  read  it.  Nor  have  we  succeeded  in 
finding  any  reviews  or  notices  of  it  except  that  by 
Poe.  It  seems  to  have  been  published  in  1841. 
The  only  references  to  it  that  we  have  seen  are  the 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT.  17 

title,  as  given  in  Allibone's  Dictionary,  and  the  de- 
scription of  Wilmer  as  "  author  of  '  The  Quacks  of 
Helicon/"  on  the  title-page  of  his  book,  "  Our  Press 
Gang."  So  far  as  our  inspection  of  the  serials  of 
the  period  warrants  the  judgment,  it  would  seem  as 
if  the  existence  of  that  work  is  only  known  through 
Poe's  review  of  it.  It  was  singular  that  Wilmer's 
initials,  "  L.  A.,"  should  be  the  same  as  the  first  two 
letters  of  "  Lavante,"  and  the  style,  the  bias,  the 
pungency  of  the  satire  certainly  resembled  the  - 
acteristics  of  "The  Quacks  of  Helicon,"  so  far  as 
v  enables  us  to  judge.  Another  discourag- 
ing point  was  the  fact  that  Poe  speaks  in  the  i  < 
of  Wilmer  as  his  personal  friend,  and  warmly  ap- 
plauds the  intention  and  the  power  of  his  perform- 
ance. Very  unlikely  that  a  reviewer  who  thus 
praises  and  endorses  a  friend's  poem  should  set 
about  an  identical  thing,  as  though  to  rival  and 
eclipse  his  friend.  So  the  inquiry  grew  more  inter- 
esting for  the  new  elements  of  mystery  and  contra- 
diction, and  from  here  the  discussion  ncccs 
acquires,  in  part,  a  psychological  character.  If  we 
find  the  \\  pothesis  eliminates  itself,  or  tends 

to,  then  comes  the  problem  how  to  make  a  cap  out 
of  the  in. aerials — secrecy,  spite,   self-gratification, 
and  inconsistency — that  shall  fit  the  head  of  Poe  bet- 
in  that  of  anyone  else. 

Lambert  A.  Wilmer  was  a  friend  of  Poe  for  a 
years.  He  started  the  Saturday  Visitor  in  I 
more  in  1833,  and  Poe  won  two  of  the  prizes  on 

.  which  began  their  acquaintance.  Like  Poe, 
Wilmer  was  penniless,  and  found  the  way  rough 
enough  without  making  it  worse  for  himself,  which, 

2 


1 8  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

however,  he  invariably  used  to  do.  He  contrived  to 
set  everybody  by  the  ears,  and  turn  his  friends  into 
foes.  So  far  as  we  know  him  from  occasional  men- 
tion, and  from  his  own  autobiographical  statement 
in  "  Our  Press  Gang,"  Wilmer  must  have  been  one 
of  the  most  cantankerous,  self-opinionated  men  ever 
known.  He  bears  out,  and  actually  glories  in,  the 
less  formidable  facts  included  in  the  letter  of  Poe, 
which  we  are  about  to  cite,  that  he  (Wilmer)  had  to 
leave  Philadelphia  "  on  tramp,"  penniless  and 
friendless,  and  from  that  time  until  about  1853  he 
was  always  in  poverty,  and  being  scouted  because  of 
his  unfortunate  habit  of  saying  the  wrong  thing  at 
the  wrong  time  to  the  wrong  person.  The  "  Press 
Gang"  book  is  his  Parthian  shaft  at  the  journalistic 
profession,  which  he  had  exchanged  for  some  com- 
mercial interest,  and  he  revels  in  malicious  glee,  as 
he  " exposes"  the  thousand  and  one  rascalities  that 
degrade  every  member,  great  and  small,  of  "  Our 
Press  Gang" — with  the  solitary  exception  (of  course) 
of  the  virtuous  Wilmer. 

Now  to  recur  to  Poe's  review  of  Wilmer's  1841 
satire.  He  reviews  it,  not  because  of,  but  in  spite  of, 
its  qualities.  He  says  candidly  the  author  of  "  The 
Quacks  of  Helicon"  is  his  friend,  and  he  wishes 
the  poem  success,  yet  in  the  very  outset  Poe  pro- 
ceeds to  damn  it  for  its  "  gross  obscenity,"  and  the 
"  filth  which  disgraces  it." 

What  is  the  meaning  of  this  ?  It  discloses  itself  in 
the  avowal  by  Poe  that  he  goes  out  of  his  way  to  do 
a  disagreeable  act,  solely  because  "  it  is  the  truth, 
and  for  that  reason  we  wish  it  God-speed."  Here  is 
to  be  noted  Poe's  overpowering  desire  to  chastise  his 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT.  19 

rivals  and  censors  by  any  sort  of  rod,  however  dirty, 
if  only  it  leaves  a  mark.  This  is  worth  emphasizing 
for  the  present  purpose,  and  we  therefore  make  the 
following  extracts  from  his  review  : 

"  We  repeat,  //  is  the  truth  which  he  (Wilmcr)  has  spoken. 

.  He  has  asserted  that  we  are  clique-ridden  ;  and  who 
does  not  smile  at  the  truism  of  that  assertion  ?  Hr  m.iintains 
that  chicanery  is,  with  us.  a  far  surer  road  than  talent  to  dis- 
tinction in  letters.  Who  gainsays  thi  The  inter- 
course between  critic  and  publisher,  as  it  now  almost  univer- 
sally stands,  is  comprised  either  in  the  paying  and  pocketing 
of  blackmail,  as  the  price  of  a  simple  forbearance,  or  in  a 
direct  system  of  petty  and  contemptible  bribery.  ...  Is 
there  any  man  of  good  feeling  and  of  ordinary  understand- 
ing .  .  .  who  does  not  feel  a  thrill  of  bitter  indignation 
as  he  calls  to  mind  instance  after  instance  of  the  pur- 
est, the  most  unadulterated  quackery  in  letters,  which  has 
risen  to  a  high  post  in  the  apparent  popular  estimation. 
We  should  have  no  trouble  in  pointing  out,  to-day,  some 
twenty  or  thirty  so-called  literary  personages,  who,  if  not 
idiots,  as  we  half  think  them,  or  if  not  hardened  to  all  sense 
of  shame  by  a  long  course  of  disingenuousness,  will  now  blush 

.     and  tremble.  h  the  help  of  a  hearty  good- 

will, even  w€  may  yet  tumble  them  do 

It  is  beyond  dispute  that  Poc  did  "tumble  do 
a  good  many  worthless  idols,  as  all  his  competent 
biographers  testify.     Mr.  Stoddard,  howt 
tures  to  think — or  rather,  to  say — "Poc  destroyed 
no  reputation  ;  he  was  a  powerless  iconoclast."1    Yet 
in  the  Mail  and  Express  of  April  23,  1887,  the  v. 
of  the  "  Literary  Notes  "  speaks  of  "  nonentities  like 
Percival  and  Sprai; 

The  case  now  stands  thus,  Poc  has  stretched  a 
point,  against  his  better  judgment  and  good  taste, 
to  dr.i^  the  *'  filthy  "  sat;;  .end  into  unim 


20  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

prominence,  solely  because  it  attacked  the  persons 
against  whom  Poe  harboured  the  keenest  animosity. 

What  we  have  now  to  explain  is  how  it  could  hap- 
pen that  Poe  should  turn  round  and  try  to  undo  his 
friendliness  to  Wilmer  by  writing  a  rival  satire  on 
the  same  theme  and  in  the  same  style,  though  with- 
out the  glaring  offences.  The  explanatory  facts  that 
are  here  given  supply  a  twofold  answer  ;  first,  Poe 
soon  fell  out  with  his  "  friend  ;  "  second,  he  thus  had 
a  double  motive  for  wiping  out  the  satire  he  had 
praised,  and  also  his  own  friendly  review  of  it,  which 
remained  on  record,  perhaps,  as  we  have  said,  the 
only  record  of  its  existence. 

Within  two  years  from  Poe's  review  of  Wilmer's 
"Quacks"  we  find  Poe  fiercely  attacking  his  quon- 
dam friend.  This  is  sufficiently  attested  by  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Poe  from 
Philadelphia,  August  28,  1843,  which  we  take  from 
Woodberry  (p.  191).  Poe  demands  that  his  corre- 
spondent shall  give  up  a  letter  which  Wilmer  is  sup- 
posed to  have  written  against  Poe. 

Here  is  the  extract  :  "I  believe  I  know  the  vil- 
lain's name.  It  is  Wilmer.  In  Philadelphia  no  one 
speaks  to  him.  He  is  considered  by  all  as  a  repro- 
bate of  the  lowest  class.  Feeling  a  deep  pity  for 
him  I  endeavoured  to  befriend  him,  and  you  remem- 
ber that  I  rendered  myself  liable  to  some  censure  by 
writing  a  review  of  his  filthy  pamphlet  called  l  The 
Quacks  of  Helicon.'  He  has  returned  my  good  of- 
fices by  slander  behind  my  back.  All  here  are  anx- 
ious to  have  him  convicted — for  there  is  scarcely  a 
gentleman  in  Philadelphia  whom  he  has  not  libelled, 
through  the  gross  malignity  of  his  nature." 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT.  21 

To  this  it  is  only  necessary  to  add  a  brief  sum- 
mary of  the  results  of  our  efforts  to  exhaust  the 
\Vilmer  clew.  Lambert  A.  Wilmer  and  Poe  were 
never  friends  again.  Wilmer  issued  no  more  poeti- 
cal compositions.  He  appears  not  to  have  sought 
special  repute  as  a  writer  of  verse.  His  "  Quacks  " 
ipparently  a  tabooed  book,  and  no  trace  of  it  is 
found  in  a  general  perusal  of  the  serials  of  the  time. 
Wilmer  was  a  journalist  and  a  pro-  .  He 

published  his  book,  "  Our  Press  Gang,"  in  18^, 
describing  himself  on  the  title-page  as  "Author  of 
the  Quacks  of  Helicon"  also  of  a  grammar  and  a 
biography,  but  makes  no  claim  to  be  the  author  of 
the  "  Lavantc  "  satire.  This  is  a  striking  consider- 
ation, for  Wilmer  was  a  very  proud  man,  and  having 
written  a  satire  that  was  unanimously  condemned  for 
its  dirtiness,  he  would  assuredly  have  gloried  to  own 
the  "  Lavantc  "  satire,  if  he  had  written  it,  because 
it  is  pure  in  tone  and  style,  and  meritorious  through- 
out He  was  a  man  of  very  pronounced  character. 
In  his  "  Press  Gang  "  he  gives  his  portrait  and  writes 
fully  and  freely  about  himself,  concealing  nothing. 
As  the  burden  of  that  book  is  the  bitter  complaint 
11  his  penwork  had  been  condemned,  would  he 
not  have  flourished  this  clever  and  unobjectionable 
"Lavantc"  satire  in  the  face  of  the  world  as  a  tii- 
umphant  vindication  of  his  ability  and  his  purity  ? 

By  his  silence  as  to  this,  and  by  his  claim  of  the 
objectionable  "  Quacks  "  he  clearly  negatives  the 
supposition  that  Wilmer  might  have  be< 
It  is  not  necessary  to  enlarge  upon  such  minor  points 
as  the  omission  of  Poe's  name  from  the  "  Lavante  " 
satire.  Had  Wilmer  written  it  he  would  have  b 


22  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

fied  the  writer  of  the  letter  quoted  above,  even  if  he 
had  wrapped  it  in  praises  of  Poe's  technical  skill. 
According  to  Woodberry,  Wilmer  sent  a  letter  to  the 
Baltimore  Commercial  of  May  23,  1866,  containing 
some  favourable  recollections  of  Poe.  According  to 
Dr.  Allibone's  Dictionary  of  Authors,  Wilmer  died 
in  1863,  but  authorities  delight  to  differ.  From  what 
we  have  seen  of  Wilmer  as  a  writer,  and  know  of  him 
as  a  man,  he  is  scarcely  likely  to  have  had  either  the 
reposeful  leisure,  the  cast  of  thought,  or  the  graceful 
pen  that  produced  this  "Lavante"  satire.  The 
pseudonym  "Lavante"  is  not  in  any  of  the  diction- 
aries, nor  is  it  likely  that  Wilmer  ever  wrote  anony- 
mously. He  was  not  that  kind  of  man.  As  regards 
others,  it  is  of  course  quite  possible  there  may  have 
been  a  score  of  versifiers  capable  of  producing  a 
poetical  satire  in  1847.  All  we  say  is,  that  among 
them  we  have  failed  to  find  a  satisfactory  "  Lavante." 
If  a  claimant  shall  come  forward  he  must  fulfil  these 
conditions  :  He  must  first  of  all  be  a  poet  himself  of 
high  merit  ;  he  must  be  animated  by  a  contemptuous 
jealousy  of  other  poets  whom  he  conscientiously  feels 
are  his  inferiors,  but  who  are  set  above  him  ;  he  must 
be  a  firm  holder  of  the  Poe  theory  of  poetry  ;  and  yet 
he  must  have  dominating  reasons  for  avoiding  all 
mention  of  Poe's  name  or  works.  These  conditions 
limit  the  field  of  choice,  and,  short  of  proof  positive, 
it  will  be  difficult  to  be  convinced  that  there  exists  a 
stronger  claimant  than  Poe. 

The  third  division  of  the  inquiry  is  now  reached  : 
What  are  the  intrinsic  quality  and  characteristics  of 
the  "  Lavante  "  satire,  and  how  far  do  they  tally  with 
those  of  Poe,  the  poet  and  the  man  ? 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT.  23 

The  first  difficulties  (as  they  may  appear)  are 
these  :  if  Poe  was  "  Lavante,"  he  must  have  acted 
cunningly,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  deceitfully  ;  lie 
must  have  been  an  extreme  egotist ;  he  must  have 
been  inconsistent,  because  several  passages  and  a 
'missions  in  the  "  Lavante"  satire  do  not  quite 
square  with  other  judgments  in  his  prose  writings  ; 
he  must  have  condescended  to  imitation;  and  he 
must  have  furbished  up  into  new  shape  much  of  his 
old  work.  Undoubtedly  the  "  Lavante"  satire  sug- 
gests these  points  at  the  outset.  We  deal  with  them, 
again  as  briefly  as  possible,  before  proceeding  t 

-t,  as  to  the  deceit,  or  cunning.     This  would 
seem  to  lurk  in  the  invention  of  a  pseudonym  not  un- 
likely to  suggest  "  L.   A.  Wilmcr  "  or  "  Lau, 
Osborn,"  author  of  the  satirical  "  Vision  of  Rub 
because  it  begins  with  "  La."    There  is  not  much  in 
but  the  author  of  "  The  Purloined  Letter"  was 
not  lacking  in  subtlety  of  resource,  and  wh 
the  whim  to  preserve  his  own  anonymity  by  trailing 
the  scent  in  another  quarter,  he  was  not  likely  to  fail 
of  success. 

Yet  there  is  a  euphony  in  the  word  "  Lavante  " 

curiously  suggestive  of  Poe.     One  of  his  characters 

in  "  Politian"  is  named  "  Lalagc."     Elsewhere  we 

find  "  lanthc,"  "  Levaritc,"  "  Lalande,"  "  enwrit- 

"silcntncss,"  and  "  rcd-littcn."     Mr.  Stcdman 

rks  on  Poe's  love  of  smooth-flowing  words, 

selected  or  coined,  for  use  and  re-use,  a  number  of 

what  have   been   called  '  beautiful   words/    .     .     . 

halcyon,     scintillant,     Ligcia,     .     .     .     D'Eloi 

and  the  like  ;  everything  was  subordinate  to  sound." 


24  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

In  the  "  Lavante  "  satire  we  find  the  words  "aid- 
ance,"  "idlesse,"  "Pallas,"  "distain,"  and  "re-veer," 
and  the  remarkable  use  of  the  caesura,  which  forms 
the  subject  of  a  note  in  the  Appendix.  The  above 
words  are  by  no  means  the  common  property  of 
common  rhymesters. 

Poe  loved  the  mysterious,  and  revelled  in  mystify- 
ing others.  His  famous  hoaxes  are  sufficiently 
familiar.  He  was  great  at  cryptography,  of  which 
we  have  more  to  say  hereafter.  There  are  many 
other  instances  of  Poe's  fancy  for  misleading  his 
readers.  In  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  vol. 
for  1836,  is  an  anonymous  article  on  Poetry.  An 
editorial  foot-note  says,  "  These  detached  passages 
form  part  of  the  preface  of  a  small  volume  printed 
some  years  ago  for  private  circulation.  They  have 
vigour  and  much  originality,  but  of  course  we  shall 
not  be  called  upon  to  endorse  all  the  writer's  opin- 
ions." The  " writer"  was  no  other  than  Poe  him- 
self ;  the  book  in  which  this  article  appeared  was  his 
own  1831  volume  of  poems,  and  the  editor  who 
penned  this  foot-note  was  also  Poe.  Later  he  did  not 
shrink  from  anonymously  attacking  and  ridiculing 
Griswold  by  name,  and  drawing  a  contrast  between 
Griswold  and  Poe,  to  the  disparagement  of  the 
former.  This  was  in  the  Saturday  Museum,  at  the 
end  of  1843  (Woodberry,  pi  195).  In  Lowell's  short- 
lived "  Pioneer"  Poe  (who  had  asked  for  employ- 
ment on  it)  wrote  favorably  of  Lowell,  and  adversely 
criticised  Longfellow.  By  and  by  Poe  fell  foul  of 
Lowell,  and  yet  later  still  we  find  him  asking  Lowell 
to  write  a  biographical  notice  of  him  (Poe).  Accord- 
ing to  his  needs  and  prospects  Poe's  printed  judg- 


INTRODUCTOR  Y  ARGUMENT.  :  ; 

merits  on  his  more  powerful  contemporaries  varied, 
now  rose-coloured  and  now  black  as  a  gibbet.  We 
have  already  mentioned  that  "  Ulalume  "  was  pub- 
lished anonymously  in  the  same  year  as  the  *  *  La- 
"  satire,  but  there  was  this  peculiarity  about 
it— Poe  wrote  to  Willis,  requesting  him  to  copy  the 
poem  from  the  American  Review  into  his  "  Home 
Journal,"  and  to  preface  it  with  an  editorial  note 
asking  who  the  author  could  be.  "  The  R 
also  published  anonymously,  in  the  American  Re- 
•vieW)  as  by  "  Quarles,"  with  a  pi  >te  calcu- 

lated to  throw  the  reader  entirely  off  the  scent    The 
unreliableness   of  his   mood    (and   this   cover- 
difficulty  as  to  "  inconsistency  ")  is  further  shov 
the  fact  that  although  from  1843  to  1845  Poc's  hos- 
tility  to  Griswold  knew  no  bounds,  he   absolutely 
avoided  all  criticism  of  Griswold  when  he  repeated 
his  lecture  in  New  York  in  1845.     Why  ?     Because 
Griswold  was  then  in  a  position  to  do  him  harm  or 
good,  and  Poe  was  more  and  more  in  need  of  any 
sort  of  lift  Woodbcrry  (p.  224)  :  "  Poe  was 

now  endeavouring  to  renew  his  acquaintance  (with 
Griswold),  plainly  from  selfish  motives."  Stoddard 
states  that  Poe  reprinted  some  of  his  old  stories  in 
the  Broadway  Journal  with  the  new  signature  "  Lit- 
tleton 

The  next  point  is  the  egotism  of  "  Lavante."   The 
reference   already   made  to   Poe's  cl  itude 

toward  his  censors,  rivals,  and  the  Press  bears  on 
It    needs   no    elaboration.     The  critic,  con- 
scious of  his  own  mastery,  cannot  but  beegotis' 
and  his  egotism  is  but  the  mintmark  of  his  quality. 
In  a  moment  of  unrestrained  outrightncss  Po 


26  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

plied  to  a  friend  who  had  referred  to  public  opinion, 
"  What  care  I  for  the  judgment  of  a  multitude, 
every  individual  of  which  I  despise  ?  "  (Ingram,  ii., 
94.)  Next  day  he  felt  he  must  tone  this  sentiment 
down  somewhat,  but  it  was  there,  and  it  came  right 
out  like  a  blow  from  the  shoulder.  Another  expres- 
sion, made  in  the  course  of  a  discussion  upon  his 
"  Eureka,"  Poe  neither  retracted  nor  modified. 
Said  he,  solemnly,  "  My  whole  nature  utterly  re- 
volts at  the  idea  that  there  is  any  Being  in  the  uni- 
verse superior  to  myself "  (Ingrain,  ii.,  144).  Sted- 
man  acutely  observes  that  "  the  central  figure  in  all 
Poe's  writings,  however  disguised,  is  himself." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  there  are  no  female  poets 
named  among  the  thirty  in  this  satire.  Stoddard 
quotes  Poe  as  stating,  "  I  cannot  point  an  arrow 
against  any  woman  "  (p.  145). 

Now  as  to  the  suspicion  of  imitation.  Poe  was — 
if  ever  there  was — an  original  genius.  But  the  great- 
est original  genius  is  obliged  to  use  spoons,  knives, 
and  forks  to  eat  with.  He  has  to  be  content  with 
the  existing  roads  and  streets  if  he  goes  to  walk. 
All  poets  use  the  common  laws  of  language,  with 
more  or  less  variation  from  the  common  use,  and 
Poe — if  he  wanted  to  write  a  satire  in  heroic  coup- 
lets, in  the  manner  of  Dryden  and  Pope,  had  to 
write  in  heroic  couplets,  of  course.  This  is  no  de- 
traction from  any  man's  merit.  It  is  not  plagiarism. 
It  need  not  be  imitation.  But  there  must  necessar- 
ily be  resemblance,  and,  assuming  that  "  Lavante  " 
had  reasons  for  preserving  his  secrecy,  it  would  fol- 
low that  he  would  not  take  pains  to  make  any  strik- 
ing distinction  between  his  verses  and  those  of  an 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGU.V  2~ 

ordinarily  facile  writer.  Stedman  remarks  that 
"  Poe  could  do  nothing  with  a  measure  like  blank 
verse."  Those  accustomed  to  verse-composition 
know  it  is  impossible  to  gain  effects  such  as  those  in 
"  The  Raven"  or  "  The  Bells"  in  the  heroic  couplet 
measure.  More  than  once  we  find  Poe  regretting 
that  certain  pieces  under  review  were  written  in  this 
familiar  measure,  which,  in  his  amusingly  pedantic 
manner  when  writing  of  rhythm  he  dignifies  with  the 
strict  name  of  "  iambic  pentameters."  At  first  this 
seem  an  argument  against  the  Poe  authorship 
of  this  satire,  but  the  following  admission  entirely 
removes  the  difficulty. 

"  We  cannot  deny,  it  is  true,  that  the  satiric 
model  oi  the  days  in  question  (Pope  and  Dryden, 
and  the  heroic  couplet)  is  insusceptible  of  improve- 
ment, and  that  the  modern  author  who  dc\ 
therefrom  must  necessarily  sacrifice  something  of 
merit  at  the  shrine  of  originality*'  (Poe's  review  of 
"  The  Quacks  of  Helicon").  The  italics  arc  ours. 
At  the  risk  of  repetition  we  put  it  that  this  deliberate 
opinion,  coupled  with  his  equally  emphatic  and  sig- 
nificant declaration  that  "a  satire  is,  of  course,  no 
poem,"  clearly  shows  that  when,  or  if,  Poe  contem- 
plated a  satire  in  verse,  he  would  write  it  in  heroic 
couplets,  though  he  felt  in  advance  it  would  b 
possible  to  impress  it  with  the  stamp  of  the  original 
genius  of  which  he  was  so  justly  proud. 

But,  if  need  be,  it  is  not  very  difficult  to  show  that 
Poe  could  imitate,  or  at  least  borrow  an  idea 
or  a  pattern,  when  he  chose.    Even  "  The  Raven  " — 
that  most  unique  of  all  strange  poems — was  anony- 
mously put  out  only  fourteen  months  after  the  New 


28  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

Mirror  of  October  14,  1843,  had  published  Albert 
Pike's  "  Isadore,"  which  strikingly  foreshadows  the 
"  Raven,"  with  its  "  nevermore  "  refrain.  Here  is  a 
verse  : 

"  Thou  art  lost  to  me  forever,  I  have  lost  thee,  Isadore, 
Thy  head  will  never  rest  upon  my  loyal  bosom  more, 
Thy  tender  eyes  will  nevermore  gaze  fondly  into  mine, 
Nor  thy  arms  around  me  lovingly  and  trustingly  entwine, 
Thou  art  lost  to  me  forever,  Isadore  !  " 

Stoddard  does  not  mention  this  striking  coinci- 
dence in  his  Memoir.  "  Lavante  "  has  a  gentle  lash 
at  this  same  "  Sir  Pike  :  " 

"  So  glide  thy  music,  so  expire  thy  song, 
So  melt  thy  melody  into  the  soul 
That  not  thy  foe  may  say — it  all  was  stole." 

The  f  l  Autography  "  satires  are  imitation  letters  by 
the  persons  whose  autograph  signatures  are  given, 
and — after  each  humorous  forgery  Poe  solemnly 
pens  a  stinging  estimate  of  the  character  of  each  vic- 
tim, founded  upon  the  style  of  composition  and  the 
calligraphy !  The  force  of  cunning  satire  could  no 
farther  go.  If  evidence  were  demanded  of  further 
versatility  we  might  point  to  Poe's  serious  disquisi- 
tion on  the  science  of  "  Street  Paving,"  and  the 
"  Philosophy  of  Furniture,"  and  to  his  really  re- 
markable facility  as  an  utterer  of  slangy  abuse,  on 
demand,  of  which  his  "  Reply  "  to  an  attack  is  a  rich 
specimen.  It  appeared  in  the  Saturday  Gazette  in 
1846,  and  filled  several  columns  in  the  same  strain  as 
this  in  which  Poe  speaks  of  his  former  employer  and 
friend  Briggs's  "  brandy-nose,  who  is  only  one-third 
described  when  this  nose  is  omitted."  Some  other 


INTRODUCTORY  AK  2$ 

9 

friends  figure  as  "blatherumskites."  All  this  goes  to 
show  that  Poe  was  a  many-sided  man.  "  Only  this, 
and  nothing  more."  That  he  continually  re-served 
most  of  his  writings  in  new  style  after  intervals  is  too 
well-known  a  fact  to  need  more  than  bare  mention. 
Hence  the  probability  that  Poe  occupied  himself  dur- 
ing those  secluded  months  of  1847  with  turning  into 
verse  the  satirical  lectures  he  had  delivered— and 
could  not  get  published — but  which  he  vowed  he 
would  intensify  and  make  permanent 

The  last  point  that  arises  is  this  :  Does  Poe's 
characteristic  theory  of  the  poetic  principle  find  an 
echo  in  the  "  Lavante"  satire?  Not  only  does  it 
find  an  echo  but  the  satire  is  simply  one  sustained, 
eloquent  paraphrase  of  Poe's  essays  and  utterances 
on  that  subject.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  quote 
Poe  on  so  familiar  a  theme.  Perusal  of  the  satire 
will  be  the  most  convincing  testimony  to  those 
acquainted  with  his  critiques,  but  we  give  an  appen- 
dix of  parallel  passages  in  the  form  of  notes.  It  may, 
however,  be  pointed  out  here  that  "  Lavante  "  intro- 
duces his  poem  by  a  quotation  from  Crabbc.  \Vh.it 
Poe  thought  of  Crabbe  may  be  gathered  from  this 
sentence  in  his  review  of  Longfellow.  He  is  arguing 
tli  it  if  Truth  rather  than  Beauty  is  the  criterion  of 
Art,  "  then  Jan  Steen  is  a  greater  artist  than  Angelo, 
and  Crabbe  a  greater  poet  than  Milton."  Then 
delicious  touch  of  irony  :ite  "  selecting  these 

lines  from  Crabbe  as  his  motto  for  the  satire  : 

"And  with  his  moral  and  religious  views 
Woos  the  wild  fancies  of  an  infant  muse, 
Inspiring  thoughts  that  he  could  not  express, 
Obscure  sublime  !  his  secret  happiness." 


30  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

% 

To  use  this,  from  the  tamest  of  all  tame  "  poets  " 
as  his  heraldic  tin-whistle,  with  which  to  usher  in  his 
victims,  is  a  left-handed  compliment  which  the  bards 
no  doubt  thoroughly  appreciated.  (Note  that  both 
in  the  Poe  article  and  the  "  Lavante  "  satire  refer- 
ence is  made  to  "  Angelo,"  without  the  "  Michael.") 

One  or  two  further  considerations  may  be  indicated 
here.  It  has  been  frequently  remarked  that  the  po- 
etry of  Poe  lacks  the  religious  element,  as  conven- 
tionally understood,  and  that  he  was  not  what  Gris- 
wold  most  valued  in  poets,  a  "  moral  "  instructor. 
The  writer  of  this  "  Lavante  "  satire  not  only  comes 
under  this  censure,  but  throughout  the  whole  of  it 
contends  that  the  didactic  and  the  moral  are  not  the 
purpose  of  Poetry.  So  did  Poe,  and,  as  will  be  seen, 
in  almost  identical  terms.  It  may,  again,  be  asked, 
Why  should  Poe  not  have  owned  this  satire  if  he 
wrote  it  ?  The  main  answer  to  this  is  found  in  the 
thread  of  the  argument  here  adduced,  but  there  are 
others  ;  e.g.,  he  was  extremely  sensitive,  and  with 
his  strict  views  of  poetic  excellence,  he  was  chary  of 
acknowledging  what  might  not  seem  to  bear  his  in- 
dividuality. Further,  he  was  not  in  a  position,  in 
1847,  to  stand  the  brunt  of  additional  ill-will.  Again, 
rinding  the  anonymous  publication  (if  it  really  was 
circulated)  had  fallen  flat,  his  pride  was  too  keen  to 
own  a  failure.  Again  ;  he  may  well  have  found  it 
advisable  to  withdraw  or  suppress  it  for  his  own  rea- 
sons. We  have  only  traced  the  existence  of  three 
copies,  and  they  are  in  public  libraries.  And  a  peru- 
sal of  the  satire  goes  far  to  explain  why  the  persons 
named  in  it  were  more  likely  to  forget  and  ignore  it 
than  talk  it  into  the  fame  it  well  deserves  and  is  now 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT.  31 

certain  to   enjoy.     Those  familiar  with   the   minor 
mannerisms  of  Poe  will  recognize  most  of  them  in 
the  satire.     Among  these   are  the   rather  pedantic 
preference  for  "  which"  instead   of  "  that  ;  "  an  oc- 
casional faulty  rhyme,  despite  his  acute   L 
dundant  syllable  here  and  there,  and   the  plentiful 
use  of  alliteration.     Noteworthy,  too,  isthegrim 
sistence  that  makes  him  go  out  of  his  way  to  dub  his 
contemporaries  by  the  intended  contemptuous  term 
"  bards,"  which  word  occurs  forty-seven  times,  while 
the  word  "  poet  "  is  used  less  than  half  a  dozen  times 
and  always  with  profound  respect.     There  arc 
ous  signs  that  this  satire  was  written  while  Poe  was 
deeply  engaged  in  the  studies  that  resulted   in  the 
.''  \\hich  all  the  authorities  agree  absorbed 
him  during  the  early  part  of  1847.     The  allusions  to 
astronomy  and  to  birds,  and  the  simile  of  the  < 
a  metaphysician,  arc  to  be  considered  not  only  in  the 
light  of  the  "  Eureka,"  but  also  of  the  f.ict  th.it  Poe 
used  to  wander  at  nights  star-gazing  ;  th.i: 

i  liking  for  birds,  and  used  to  tamo  thorn 
that  his  pet  cat  was  often  on  his  table  \\hon  writing. 

c  ouplet  strikingly  recalls  the  "  Eurck 

"Seek  out,  admire,  and  love  (he  constant  laws 
Which  guide  the  world  by  one  Eternal  Cause." 

There  now  remains  but  to  summarize  the  argument 
based  upon  the  evidence  thus  briefly  adduced. 

i  Poe  owes  grudges  to  Griswold  and  his  pet 
"  po< 

2.  He  lectures  on  "  The  Poets  and  Poetry  of 
America,"  weaving  in  much  of  what  he  had  written 
in  his  reviews. 


32  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

3.  His  lectures  cause  a  stir,  and  he  creates  ene- 
mies. 

4.  He  vows  he  will  publish  a  still  sharper  critique 
upon  them. 

5.  In  January,  1847,  his  wife  dies,  and  he  is  mood- 
ily occupied  for  some  weeks  or  months,  publishing 
nothing.     In  February  he  gains  $225  by  an  action  for 
libel.     In  March   he   announces  as  soon  to  appear 
"  The  Authors  of  America,  in  Prose  and  Verse,  by 
Edgar  A.  Poe." 

6.  This  is  said  never  to  have  appeared,  but  he  had 
issued  many  pieces  besides  "The  Raven"  anony- 
mously,   and    "  Ulalume "    appeared    anonymously 
that  year. 

7.  An  anonymous  satire   in  verse    did   appear  in 
1847,  of  which  no  history  is  ascertainable,  but  which, 
intrinsically  and  by  other  considerations,  exactly  fits 
the  conditions  of  the  theory  that  this  is  Poe's  versified 
lecture,  the  persons  Poe  had  adversely  criticised  be- 
ing named  in  it,  but  not  Poe  himself. 

8.  The    absence    of  any    other    "  Lavante  "    of 
equal  claims  to  the  authorship,  and  the  fact  that  the 
satire  itself  and  thq  pseudonym  are  unknown  to  the 
authorities  in  American  Literature. 


SUPPLEMENTARY. 

SINCE  the  foregoing  was  written  it  occurred  to  us 
that  Poe,  who  was  so  given  to  mystification  in  his 
literary  work  and  in  his  conversation  about  himself, 
might  possibly  have  indulged  his  whim  occasionally 
for  a  purpose.  It  seemed  not  improbable  that  the 
constructor  of  the  ingenious  acrostic  enigmas  "  A 


INTRODUCTORY  A.  33 

Valentine"  and**  An  Enigma,"  containing  the  names 
of  "  Sarah  Anna  Lewis  "  and  "  Frances  Sargent  Os- 
good,"  might  sign  his  own  name  in  some  crypto- 
graphic fashion  in,  at  any  rate,  his  anonymous  poems. 
It  might  serve  for  identification  in  case  of  doubt. 
We  made  the  experiment,  and  here  are  the  results. 
Let  it  be  admitted  at  the  outset  that  the  letters  form- 
ing "  Edgar  Allan  Poe  "  are  such  as  can  be  compa- 
ratively easily  buried  in  ordinary  words.  Still,  there 
are  points  in  what  we  now  proceed  to  record  which 
are  curious,  and  far  from  valueless,  though  we  only 
submit  this  as  a  curios: 

Assuming  that  such  cryptogram-signature  would 
probably  be  found  in  the  last  couplet,  we  examined 
nd  found  these  peculiarities.     The  lines  arc  : 

"SHOULD  PUBLIC  HATE  UPON  MY  PEN  REACT, 
NO  MATTER  THIS— I  WILL  NOT  AUGHT  RETRACT." 

We  find  that  the  above  couplet  contains  all  the 
letters  in  the  name 

••  EDGAR  ALLAN  PC! 
They  also  contain  the  following  words  : 
"AMERICAN  POETS  AND  POETRY:  A  SATIRE." 
Or  these  : 

"  A  SATIRE.  EVERY  WORD  TRUE  ;  EDGAR  ALLAN 
POE." 

Or  these  : 

••A  TRUE  AND  HONEST  SATIRE,  BY  EDGAR  AL- 
LAN POE." 

Neither  of  the  titles  of  the  satires  referred  toby 
Poe— "  The  Quacks  of  Helicon"  and  "The  Vision 
of  Rubeta  "—can  be  got  out  of  this  couplet.     It  must 
3 


34  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

• 

be  borne  in  mind  that  we  are  dealing  with  a  strange 
and  whimsical  order  of  mind,  that  enjoyed,  rather 
than  scorned,  such  trivial  exercises  as  these. 

If  it  is  remarked  that  a  good  many  other  names 
and  titles  can  be  made-up  out  of  this  couplet,  so  be 
it.  Yet  it  is  none  the  less  striking  that  the  names  of 
Griswold,  Lowell,  Holmes,  Pike,  Benjamin,  Long- 
fellow, Dawes,  Pinckney,  Willis,  Whittier,  Clarke, 
Halleck,  Tucker,  Hoffman,  Parker,  possibly  able  if 
not  likely  to  have  written  such  a  satire,  cannot  be 
found  in  the  cryptogram-couplet! 

Poe's  gifted  friend,  Mrs.  Whitman,  carries  the  an- 
agram whim  to  an  extreme  pitch  in  her  charming 
vindication  of  the  poet,  when  she  finds  in  "  Edgar 
Poe"  "  a  god-peer."  Yet  there  is  something  to  be 
said  for  the  anagram,  if  only  as  an  amusing  pastime. 

If  it  be  objected  that  Poe  was  too  fine  an  artist  in 
word-jugglery  to  perpetrate  such  poor  jokes  as  these, 
we  must  call  Mr.  Stedman  to  testify  that  "  in  gen- 
uine humour  Poe  seemed  utterly  wanting,"  and  as 
to  its  quality  we  again  cite  from  Ingram,  who  says 
(ii. ,  p.  286),  "  His  love  of  hidden  hoaxing  is  well  ex- 
emplified by  the  names  of  the  personages  in  this  lit- 
tle romance  ('  The  Thousand  and  Second  Tale  of 
Scheherazade')  ;  for  instance,  the  incidents  are  as- 
sumably  derived  from  the  oriental  work  '  Tellmenow 
Isitsoornot'  (Tell  me  now  is  it  so  or  not),  which  is 
compared,  for  its  rarity,  with  the  '  Zohar '  (So  ah) 
of  '  Jochaides  '  (Joke  aids)."  Again,  the  hero  of  his 
would-be  humorous  account  of  "  Some  Words  with 
a  Mummy"  is  "  Count  Allamistakeo  "  (All  a  mistake, 
o).  Elsewhere  we  find  the  name  "  Vondervotteim- 
ittis"  (Wonder  what  time  it  is).  By  way  of  testing 


INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT.  35 

• 

the  frequency  of  the  occurrence  of  the  letters  in  the 
three  names  of  Poe  we  examined  the  final  couplets 
of  a  hundred  sonnets,  and  they  occur  in  only  thirty- 
three.  The  first  couplet  of  "  The  Raven  "  contains 
not  only  "  Edgar  Allan  Poe/'  but  also  "  Quarles," 
the  pseudonym  under  which  it  appeared  in  the 
American  Review.  In  "  Ulalume,"  which  was  pub- 
lished anonymously,  it  is  curious  that  all  the  letters 
of  Poe's  name  come  in  the  first  couplet,  except  the 
g,  but  the  second  line  is  made  to  do  duty  as  a  third 
— it  might  almost  seem— for  the  sole  purpose  of  sup- 
plying that  missing  lett 

.ic  skies  they  were  ashen  and  sober ; 
The  leaves  they  were  crisped  and  sere— 
The  leaves  they  were  m/fori^f  and  sere." 

Why  not  "  withered,"  except  for  some  fanciful 
reason  ?  Out  of  the  42  poems  in  GriswokTs  edition 
of  Poe,  36  have  Poe's  name  in  some  form,  in  the 
first  or  last  lines.  The  names 

Edgar  Poe  (Lavantc), 
yield  this  anagi 

A  Real  Poet  AvcngM. 
And  the  words 

Poe,  Lavantc, 
give 

No  Valet.    E.  A.  P., 

a  sentiment  quite  in  accord  with  that  of  the  satire  and 
all  Poe's  critical  writings.  As  Poe  was  unique  and 
eccentric,  he  must  be  dealt  with  on  other  than  ordi- 
lines.  In  his  very  able  sketch,  Mr.  J.  R.  Lowell 
says  :  "  Poe  combines  in  a  very  remarkable  man- 
ner two  faculties  which  are  seldom  found  united,  a 
power  of  influencing  the  mind  of  the  reader  by  the 


36  INTRODUCTORY  ARGUMENT. 

impalpable  shadows  of  mystery,  and  a  minuteness  of 
detail  which  does  not  leave  a  pin  or  a  button  un- 
noticed. .  .  .  Having  resolved  to  bring  about 
certain  emotions  in  the  reader,  he  makes  all  sub- 
ordinate parts  tend  strictly  to  the  common  cen- 
tre. Even  his  mystery  is  mathematical  to  his  own 
mind.  To  him  x  is  a  known  quantity  all  along." 
We  venture  one  step  further,  and  submit  that  no  cir- 
cumstance, however  apparently  trivial,  singular,  or 
inconsistent,  can  safely  be  left  out  of  the  estimate, 
when  the  subject  of  discussion  is  the  wholly  unique, 
sphinx-like  Edgar  Poe. 


HOW  POE  WOULD  HAVE  WRITTEN  A  SATIRE. 

(The  following  extract  may  serve  as  a  pre- 
face and  a  criterion,  before  reading  the  satire  :) 
"  It  (the  '  Vision  of  Rubeta ')  fails  in  the 
principal  element  of  all  satire — sarcasm — be- 
cause the  intention  to  be  sarcastic     ...     is 
permitted   to   render    itself    manifest.      The 
malevolence  appears.      The  author  has    not 
many  superiors   in  downright  invective ;  but 
this  is  the   awkward  left  arm   of  the   satiric 
Muse.     That  satire   alone    is    worth   talking 
about  which  at  least  appears  to  be  the  genial, 
^^good-humored,    out-pouring    of    irrepressible 
^merriment." — Poe  on  Lowell,  in  The  Literati. 


veral  irregularities  in  the  use  or  non-use  of 
capitals,  in  punctuation,  and  possibly  of  spelling  will  be  no- 
ticed in  the  satire  ;  they  are  in  the  original,  which  seems  to 
have  been  either  carelessly  revised  or  purposely  confused. 


THE 


POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA 


PHILADELPHIA 

WILLIAM  a  YOUNG-NO.  ITS  RACE  STREET 

1847 


THE   POETS  AND   POETRY   OF 
AMERICA. 

A  SATIRE. 

"  And  with  his  moral  and  religious  views 
Woos  the  wild  fancies  of  an  infant  muse, 
Inspiring  thoughts  that  he  could  not  express, 
Obscure  sublime  I  his  secret  happiness." 

— CRABBB. 

CLIME  of  the  brave !  entire  from  sea  to  sea  I 
Vain  is  thy  boast  that  thou  art  blest  and  free  ! 
Oh  servile  slave  to  eastern  rules  and  rhyn 
Almost  from  Milton's  blank  to  Chaucer's  chime  ! 
Thy  own  proud  bards  behold  t  a  motley  band 
To  lead  the  music  of  their  native  land. 
•  Immortal  GRISWOLD!  thine  the  deathless  name 
Shall  bear  the  palm  of  more  than  mortal  fame  ! 
For  thine  the  lofty  boast  at  once  to  save 
The  humble  bard  perchance  from  hapless  grave, 

•h  liis  crown  thy  fadeless  laurel  bays, 
And  with  thy  nursling  gain  undying  praise. 
Yea  thine  alone  to  search  o'er  Delphian  height 
•  Inch  shall  give  to  gods  and  men  delight ; 
At  once  to  snatch  from  each  lone  wandering  muse 
All  which  on  earth  could  profit  or  amuse, 
Then  rise  and  soar  o'er  loftier  peaks  away, 
And  bask  in  Phoebus'  pure  effulgent  ray ! 
1  Blest  be  thy  name  !  nor  grief  thy  pleasure 
Nor  fade  thy  life  but  with  the  morning  star  t 

*  It  is  in  the  invaluable  collection  of  Griswold  that  I  have 
found  the  plot  and  groundwork  of  the  Tale. 


4  THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

Awake,  satiric  muse  !  awake  in  might 2 
To  strike,  for  Poesy's  insulted  right ! 
Awake  in  spite  of  SAUNDERS  and  the  fools 
Who  think  of  thee,  as  I  of  PARKER'S  rules, 
That  thou  art  weak — and  not  that  deathless  fame 
Awaits  thy  course  to  crown  the  empty  claim ! 
The  chase  is  up,  arise  and  onward  press, 
If  mean  the  game,  yet  not  the  sport  is  less ! 
Keen  be  the  jest,  yet  just  the  pointed  stroke 
To  silence  folly  in  her  shameless  cloak  ; 
Let  impulse  lead,  not  prudence  guide  the  song, 
Nor  laughter  fail  to  cheer  the  muse  along. 

What  age  can  boast  improvements  like  our  own, 

3  When  men  to  gods,  and  idiots  bards  have  grown  ? 
No  want  of  rhyme,  though  oft  as  light  as  chaff, 
Vain  as  a  bustle  or  a  cenotaph  ; 

4  Dreams,  clouds,  or  gas-light,  all  are  made 
At  cheapest  rate  by  Espy  or  a  blade  ! 

Oh  wondrous  age  !  whose  glories  far  excel 
All  which  romancers  dream  or  fictions  tell ! 
When  monster  banks  can  raise  a  monstrous  panic, 
And  infants  gain  their  growth  by  means  galvanic ! 
Thus  population,  like  the  mania,  speeds 
O'er  Western  wilds  and  noxious  prairie  meads, 
New  States  are  born,  new  stars  our  banner  bless, 
And  struggling  realms  are  caught  like  men  at  chess  ! 
6  Our  green-house  bard  and  critic-puff  behold 
With  native  lead  to  make  them  brave  and  bold, 
"  Whose  tow'ring  brow  and  eagle  eye  "  might  tell 
With  them  undoubted  genius,  talent  dwell ! 
Not  in  the  past  such  lovely  quacks  were  caught, 
When  Horace  sung  and  elder  Cato  taught ! 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.  5 

Oh !  had  they  lived  that  censor's  scowl  to  claim 
Soon  had  they  found  the  downward  path  to  fame. 
No  trace  were  left  to  tell  their  sunken  race 
In  life  as  worthless  as  in  dying  base. 
Not  theirs  the  crime  to  wield  the  pointless  pen, 
Nor  mine  the  task  to  lift  the  scourge  again. 

In  modern  times,  who  may  not  hope  for  praise 
When  all  we  ask  is  but  unmeaning  lays  ? 
*And  thoughtless  bards  can  suit  the  servile  throng 
With  heartless  verse  and  worse  than  worthless  song  ? 
No  theme  Byronic,  not  the  critic  strain 
Of  reckless  Pope,  in  thought  and  meaning  plain  ; 
Nor  joyous  Hope,  by  Campbell  taught  to  please 
Alike  when  life  is  sad  or  wrapt  in  ease  ; 
Not  these  the  subjci  our  times  demand, 

To  please  the  public  and  to  curse  the  land  1 
But  all  enough  if  but  the  poet  paint 
Some  fleeting  shadow  by  a  touch  as  faint. 
Recount  those  hues  which  in  the  autumn  streak 
The  woodland  grove  or  distant  mountain  peak  ; 
Some  sickly  dream  relate  to  close  the  rln 
The  task  is  done— complete  without  a  crii 
No  more  we  ask,  no  more  the  bard  can  give — 
In  times  like  these  can  mind  or  merit  live  ? 
Can  genius  flourish,  or  but  scorn  the  crew — 
Such  slaves  to  art  and  superficial  view  ? 
No  !  but  for  this  the  poet  yields  his  name, 
That  public  taste  may  canvass  on  his  claim, 
Condemn  the  false,  approve  the  true  to  life, 
Or  sink  the  whole  to  end  at  once  the  strife  ; 
No  genius  he  who  not  demands  in  pride 
That  final  word  to  be  his  future  guide. 


6  THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

• 

7  Such  is  my  crime  before  this  righteous  age  ! 
Too  proud  to  stoop,  or  heed  the  critic's  rage  ; 
I  printed  but  to  suit  the  present  whim, 
Without  a  preface  or  a  suppliant  hymn  ! 
Some  others  too  have  sought  the  luckless  play  ; 
To  all  I  pledge  the  boon  of  health  to-day, 

But  ere  I  close  let  none  repine  to  see 
That  public  trash  is  held  most  wondrous  free. 
Oh  !  for  an  arm  less  feeble  than  my  own 
To  sweep  from  dust  Apollo's  sacred  throne  ! 
Too  much  the  chaff  infests  the  precious  grain  ; 
When  shall  a  Pope  or  Byron  live  again  ?  8 

9  The  poet's  heart,  the  poet's  sense  sublime 

Was  born  for  torture  and  his  soul  for  rhyme  ; 

Intense  his  feeling  and  severe  his  pain, 

That  sullen  frown  no  more  from  love  would  gain  ; 

So  nice  his  texture,  and  so  fine  the  mould 

None  e'er  can  guess  what  ne'er  to  sight  is  told, 

Nor  search  the  secrets  of  a  soul  like  his 

Or  from  the  common  mind  imagine  this, 

The  hope,  the  fear,  the  rapture  and  delight 

Are  all  his  own — and  impulse  all  his  light. 

Earth,  air,  and  sea,  the  planet  and  the  sun 

Are  but  the  elements  of  art  begun  ; 

The  inner  world,  the  sphere  of  thought  and  mind, 

The  mysteries  that  make  and  move  mankind, 

To  him  are  servile,  and  for  him  were  made, 

Yea,  but  for  him,  would  still  from  beauty  fade. 

Thus  noble  wit,  as  by  a  skill  divine, 

Ennobles  nature  and  prevents  decline  ; 

Thus  beauty  sways  and  anguish  rends  the  heart, 

By  passion  wrought  into  the  height  of  art. 


THE  POETS  A.VD  POETKV  OF  AMERICA.  J 

When  meanest  scribblers  dare  to  woo  the  muse, 
And  print  for  praise  in  GRAHAM'S  Post- Re  vie, 
When  soulless  bards  can  seek  in  art  to  find 
The  hopeful  substitute  for  wit  or  mind  ; 
Each  moonstruck  boy  his  tuneful  harp  prepare 
And  all  may  flood  the  land  with  rhymes  of  air ; 
Then  wake,  my  muse !  can'st  thou  not  scribble  too, 
Strike  for  the  prize — the  self-same  path  pursue. 

But  who  the  first  shall  feel  thy  rising  ire, 
Of  all  the  throng  that  curse  the  sacred  lyre  ? 
Or  wilt  thou  fall,  as  downward  falls  the  plague, 
On  lofty  BRYANT,  DANA,  HALLECK,  SPRAGUE? 

10  Are  these— alas  !  the  noblest  and  the  best, 
Must  satire's  self  forever  sink  to  rest? 

Too  much  in  vain — in  vain  such  \ge 

.  unoffending  bard  and  vacant  page! 

The  night  was  up,  when  all  serene  and  glad 
Each  tuneful  bard  was  for  the  banquet  clad, 

11  While  GRISWOLD'S  self,  like  Jeffrey  on  his  throne, 
Was  raised  sublime,  and  to  a  god  was  blown. 

No  mortal  sign  to  m 

Where  still  appear  the  hues  of  wrath  or  grace  ; 
All  care,  in  calm  composure  sunk  to  rest, 
A  gracious  smile  betrays  him  greatly  1 
Wlulc  trembling  bards  in  eager  strife  appear 

nod  to  gain,  the  end  of  hope  and  : 
Close  by  is  set  an  altar's  shining  frame 
For  vows  and  incense  to  our  god  of  Fame. 
There  bend  the  suppliant  throng  intent  to  seek 
Propitious  smiles  in  mercy  to  the  weak, 
As  oft  of  old  the  weary  pilgrim  bent 
When  Pytho  swelled  till  madness  gave  her 


8  THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

12  First  comes  great  WILLIS,  trembling  to  his  heels, 
Invokes  the  god,  and  for  his  country  feels. 
But  few  indeed  could  boast  such  matchless  head, 
So  well  proportioned  and  so  rich  in  lead ; 
Each  fearful  bump,  phrenologists  would  say 
Was  thunder  proof  till  thunder's  self  decay ; 
So  thick  the  skull  where  few  ideas  meet, 
For  dulness  and  delay  a  calm  retreat. 

13  Next  comes  our  noble  Doctor,  HOLMES  we  call, 
Still  bent  to  jest  in  spite  of  wit  and  gall, 
Still  prone  to  rhyme  with  or  without  a  soul, 
Style,  ornament,  and  rhyme  the  poet's  whole. 
Those  tin-pan  toys  which  catch  the  listless  ear, 
Awhile  delight,  then  worse  than  vile  appear. 
One  hand  presents,  in  picture  of  his  pain, 
Some  slender  sheets  from  travail  of  the  brain, 
Light  as  the  air,  or  that  which  gave  them  birth, 
Some  slight  reflection  from  a  land  of  dearth. 
Humble  his  prayer,  and  meek  his  subjects'  mien, 
In  hopes  few  frowns  to  gain — a  smile  between. 

Approaching  next  with  incense  each  in  hand, 
Proud  DOANE  and  DANA  take  their  reverent  stand  ; 
One  famed  for  moral,  one  for  ghostly  song, 
While  one  might  pray  to  help  the  tune  along. 
Poor  DOANE  !  for  one  thou  sure  wilt  grace  obtain, 
By  practice  taught  that  heartless  prayer  is  vain ! 
Fear  not,  be  free  in  speech,  and  yet  be  true, 
Nor  mention  once,  e'en  by  mistake,  the  Jew, 
Lest  might  such  freedom  prove  some  breach  of  law, 
That  priest. and  bard  must  stand  in  equal  awe. 

Grave  as  the  gravest  and  more  comical 
In  solemn  suit  appears  great  PERCIVAL, 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.  9 

A  moonshine  wit  with  something  of  the  calf, 
A  mooncalf  clown,  the  hero  of  a  laugh  ! 
Who  Cobb  and  Webster  tortures  into  rhyme 
Without  one  thought  to  fill  the  vacant  time ; 
To  him  all  art,  all  argument,  supremely  flat 
Appear,  like  metaphysics  to  a  cat  ; 
So  like  the  mole,  so  fitted  for  the  dark, 
The  mental  eye  ne'er  saw  a  mental  spark ! 

There  bend  meek  BURLEIGH,  CLIO,  and  SIR  PIKF, 
All  goosequill  armed,  all  friends  to  goose  alike  ; 
Great  masters  of  the  pen,  who  n  ilag 

Till  Pegasus  his  tail  shall  cease  to  wag! 
Sons  of  a  day,  who  justly  measure  time  ! 
One  virtue  sure,  a  duty,  not  a  crime. 

:  these  attend  SPRAGUE,  SIMMS  and  BENJAMIN, 
All  heroes  of  the  lyre  without  a  sin  ; 
14  Then  HOFFMAN,  SARGENT  and  the  rest, 
Approach  the  altar  and  adore  the  best ; 
While  last  of  all  appears  the  humble  Hn  r  , 
Weak  in  reflection,  nind  and  will. 

h  look  of  torture,  visage  of  distress, 
And  all  but  perfect  m.mi.i,  fast  they  press 

i  m.my  a  groan  and  tear  in  eye, 
Fame,  fame,  undying  fame,  their  ceaseless  cry. 
Thus  cries  the  leech  in  holy  Scripture  phrase, 
Still  sucks  tenacious,  still  persistent  prays  (?preys). 

Thus  each,  his  suppliant  prayer  preferred,  regains 

^eat,  and  sits  in  emptiness  of  brains. 
All  are  content ;  assurance  sways  the  breast, 
That  each  at  last  shall  be  supremely  blest ; 
No  doubt  remains  that  each  shall  hence  ot> 
Immortal  fame  and  death  without  a  pain. 


10        THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

Pleased  with  the  incense  and  the  vow  sincere, 
The  god  assents  and  calms  each  needless  fear. 

Then  passed  the  ready  bowl  from  hand  to  hand, 
Whilst  feast  and  verse  now  animate  the  band ; 
The  cry  for  fame  propitious  heard  at  last, 
Thanks  to  the  throne  in  murmurs  fill  the  blast, 
On  tiptoe  some,  as  all  with  heels  more  light 
Than  head,  express  ineffable  delight ; 
Some  heels  reversed,  as  truly  held  in  trance 
Attempt  the  mystic  mazes  of  the  dance 
Some  sprawling  shout  sincere  the  awful  name 
Of  Folly's  son,  the  Arbiter  of  fame  ; 
The  rest,  in  fitful  inspiration  mad, 
By  monkey  feats  proclaim  their  spirits  glad. 

Then  spoke  the  god.    "  Some  farther  test  I  name, 
The  loftier  fame  to  win,  and  life  to  claim ; 
Who  highest  soars  where  Phoebus  shines  afar, 
By  light  unhurt,  himself  a  living  star, 
Ascends  Parnassus  and  o'ertops  its  head, 
Shall  gain  the  prize — a  life  beyond  the  dead. 
Though  all  immortal,  his  the  highest  name, 
Who  highest  soars  in  spite  of  sun  and  flame." 

Scarce  closed,  when  all  prepared  for  instant  flight, 
Icarus-like,  ascend  on  pinions  light, 
Their  recent  wings  in  open  sunlight  glare, 
While  croaking  voices  fill  the  rending  air. 
Thus  startled  oft  arise  the  cawing  crows, 
By  instinct  taught  the  dread  of  secret  foes, 
Right  merry  yet,  in  spite  of  human  wrong, 
Mount  in  confusion  croaking  still  for  song, 
Tumultuous  they,  as  mingling  gales  contend 
That  sport  the  while,  then  sterner  tempest  end ; 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.         IT 

Thus  like  the  eagle  borne  upon  the  gale 

Above  the  clouds  our  airy  harpies  sail ; 

At  last  approach  where  wind  and  tempest  rage — 

Well  thought  that  wit  and  wind  should  combat  wage  ! 

Thus  swiftly  sweep  by  distance  dim  and  vague, 

Almost  unseen  poor  DANA,  DOAXE  and  SPRAI 

Lost  to  the  sight  and  just  beneath  the  moon, 

Our  day-stars  CLIO,  HOFF,  are  at  their  noon. 

Some  lost  to  hope  the  clouds  in  terror  clasp, 

As  hopeless  hope  incites  the  senseless  grasp ; 

As  floats  the  hawk  sublime  for  want  of  care, 

Gyre  after  gyre  repeated  cuts  the  air  ; 

Thus  they  distressed  and  tempest-tost  app 

Whirl  with  the  wind  and  at  its  whim  re- veer. 

Sad  thought  that  flight  so  well  begun  should  fall 

To  wild  confusion,  terrible  to  all  ! 

As  meteors  darting  from  the  upper  sky, 

All  headlong  plunge,  a  harpy  host  from  high, 

'Twere  sad  to  tell,  and  long  the  tale  to  say 

How  each  was  swept  again  to  nat 

Some  hung  on  trees  as  from  the  flood  of  old 

seen  the  fish  by  antique  Ovid  told  ; 
Some  from  the  rocks  dependent  swing  in  air; 
With  feeble  grasp  to  save  the  last  des] 
There  WILLIS  lies,  full  blasted  to  a  cave, 
As  that  were  meant  his  last  and  living  gra 
Great  BURLEIGH  there  is  cast  in  lonely  grot 
Apparent  still  in  travail  for  a  thought. 
As  birds  dislodged,  or  by  the  hawk  pursued 
So  lie  the  pack  in  that  confusion  rude. 
Who  would  not  laugh  that  laughing  scene  to  see, 
That  mount  by  wits  posscss'd  from  cave  to  tree  ? 


12         THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

15  All  hail,  great  DANA  !  in  thy  shrouds  of  fear, 
With  goblin  shapes  and  mystic  Buccaneer  ! 
Proud  hero  of  the  isle  !  that  Corsair's  home 
Whose  deeds  of  blood  distain  the  ocean's  foam! 
Proud  in  thy  simple  verse,  so  light  and  free, 
Proud  in  thy  wild  creation,  Captain  Lee  ! 
That  son  of  Cain,  whose  brow  the  breezes  fan, 
A  cursing  sprite,  whose  mortal  hate  is  man  ; 
Long  trained  in  crime,  he  with  his  ghostly  crew, 
Till  waking  vengeance  tells  that  fate  is  due, 
When  lo  !  the  dawn-time  revel  broke  perforce 
That  vengeance  comes  in  shape  of  spectre  horse. 
Poor  Mat !  condemned  to  ride  that  fearful  steed 
In  dark  atonement  for  a  demon's  deed  ! 
Poor  Mat !  whose  mystic  steed  might  almost  pass 
By  chance  a  '  spectre  horse  '  for  Balaam's  ass  ! 
Poor  Mat !  that   steed  of  thine  !  whose  words  but 

strain 

To  aid  the  torture  of  thy  burning  brain  ! 
Immortal  Dana  !  in  thy  tale  of  crime 
No  lack  of  sense  but  Lee  can  close  the  rhyme  ! 
Too  much  compress'd  thy  tale,  hence  might  it  burst, 
Scare  all  thy  sprites  and  make  us  fear  the  worst ! 
All  hail,  the  bard  !  with  skill  supremely  graced, 
By  themes  like  these  to  guide  the  public  taste  ! 
When  this  shall  be,  may  genius  cease  to  fling 
Her  genial  inspiration  from  its  spring, 
Great  Jeffrey  once  again  resume  his  seat 
As  bold  in  judgment  as  in  folly  great ; 
Each  simple  bard  befriend  the  witch  of  Saul, 
And  soar  aloft  with  soaring  PERCIVAL  ! 
Oh,  matchless  DANA  !  great  in  all  but  fame  ! 
When  others  fail  do  thou  essay  the  game ; 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.         13 

14  Let  not  our  faith  in  human  might  dc< 
Nor  earth  despair  while  DAXA  hails  the  day. 
Some  daring  stroke  do  thou  attempt,  for  sure 
Our  bards  some  physic  need,  or  caustic  cure  ; 
Out  with  thy  drugs  !  thy  sinking  patient  see 

rightful  mania  and  the  syncope  ! 
Great  bard,  awake  !  some  model  just  and  great 
Do  thou  ensure,  then  yield  thee  to  thy  fate  I 
Thus  shall  the  latest  age  thy  name  revere 
And  critics  quail  for  once  in  hopeless  fear. 

17  Immortal  SPRAGUE!  son  of  the  newborn  day, 

While  odes  on  odes  arise  in  long  array, 

And  freshness  breathes  around  each  airy  theme 

The  fitting  subject  for  a  summer  dream  ! 

If  lays  like  thine  in  sterling  wit  excel — 

Then  bid  we  all  to  wit  a  last  farewell, 

Consult  no  more  the  matchless  tales  of  Crabbe, 

Seek  truth  in  ghosts,  or  sense  in  senseless  V 

Not  thine  the  skill  to  long  experience  due 

The  heart  to  melt,  to  hold  the  constant  view, 

To  drag  reflection  from  its  calm  abode 

One  thought  to  start  or  guide  upon  its  road  ; 

Enough — unmeaning  rhyme  without  an  aim, 

In  sense  as  weak  as  in  expression  tame. 

So  true  thy  fancy  to  the  forms  of 

It  ne  ;t  conceived  a  mortal  strife. 

So  much  thy  subject  and  thy  verse  alike 

As  rough  and  reckless  c  .y  strike, 

Claim  equal  praise  and  equal  praise  procure 

Tli.it  each  hath  charms  so  fitted  to  allure  ! 

Blest  be  thy  verse  t  when  odes  uncounted  claim 

To  vie  with  Pope  and  Dryden  in  their  fame  I 


14         THE  POETS  AND   POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

Write  on — thou  yet  mayst  reap  unfading  bays, 
Some  angel  add  to  earth,  some  spirit  raise  ! 
Write  on — the  grandest  souls  at  times  are  weak, 
Let  age,  experience  and  thy  dulness  speak, 
No  matter  what  the  erring  rules  of  fate 
With  time  thy  name  shall  be  supremely  great. 

18  Shall  HALLECK  not  one  passing  moment  claim  ? 
Blest  bard  !  immortal  in  Bozzaris'  name  ! 
No  dream  of  Hope,  so  sacred  and  divine, 
No  theme  didactic,  toilsome,  weary,  thine ; 
Too  much  thy  native  fire  that  thought  to  bear, 
As  that  might  sink  thee  hopeless  in  despair  ; 
But  those  who  bled  and  fell  in  freedom's  cause 
Thy  worthier  theme — attest  it  our  applause  ! 
Nay — though  the  hero  bravely  fought  and  fell, 
Though  thy  own  music  fall  like  magic  spell, 
Grant  that  thy  palm  and  praise  is  fairly  won, 
Is  all  achieved  that  mortal  might  have  done  ? 
Call  not  beneath  thee  song  so  just  and  great, 
Which  mightier  bards  in  loftier  verse  relate  ! 
Scorn  the  vile  throng  as  if  in  vengeance  set 
To  write  for  each  vile  monthly  and  gazette  ; 
Extend  thy  sphere,  thy  native  powers  expand, 
And  as  confess'd  immortal  poet  stand. 

When  vicious  taste  and  critics  both  combine 
To  nourish  bards  unfit  in  prose  to  shine, 
When  senseless  fools  in  eager  haste  declare, 
For  want  of  true,  that  worse  than  false  is  fair, 
Create,  forsooth,  some  idol  haply  dumb, 
No  matter  what,  from  Nimrod  to  Tom  Thumb, 
Call  pigmy  bards,  for  want  of  better,  great, 
The  very  giants  of  our  modern  date. 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.        15 

Shall  shameful  durance  bend  in  silent  awe, 
Or  greet  as  right  and  just  such  lawless  law  ? 
No — sooner  see  the  orbs  of  night  explode, 
The  land  in  arms,  and  torture  on  its  road, 
Than  trust  decision  taught  by  fear  (see  note  14) 
To  hireling  slaves  enlisted  by  the  year  ! 

Hail,  SAUNDERS  !  prince  of  typographic  men, 
How  pure  thy  heart,  how  faultless  is  thy  pen  I 
Calm  as  the  breath  of  Ceylon's  spicy  gale 
Thy  genius,  talent,  eloquence,  unveil. 
Not  such  a  flame  could  antique  annals  know. 
Close  shamed  Demosthenes  or  Cicero  ! 
Oh,  hadst  thou  lived  when  awful  Jeffrey  reigned, 
Thy  fame  at  least  had  with  the  world  remained. 
Immortal  SAUNDERS !  o'er  thy  lofty  name 
Slow  flits  the  shadow  of  thy  deathless  fame  t 
Not  for  thy  idle  sneer  shall  cease  my  verse, 
Not  for  the  dread  of  editorial  curse  ; 
Yet  o'er  the  bard  the  muse  may  wave  her  wing, 
And  critics  praise  when  infant  poets  sing. 
Health  to  prejudging  SAUNDERS!  o'er  his  brow 

future  years  in  joy  unheeded  flow  t 
Yea,  o'er  his  lofty  brow,  in  "  pride  of  place," 
May  friend  and  foe  the  palm  of  honour  trace. 


O  mighty  goddess  of  celestial  light, 
Immortal  Liberty  !  thy  presence  plight  I 
Flow  on  the  beam  of  Luna's  dying 
And  wake  around  thy  son  a  genial  day ; 
May  Pleiad,  Hyad,  Dryad  nymj 
Nor  envy  breathe  one  thought  to  silent  1 1 


1 6         THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

Attend,  ye  stars,  and  form  the  radiant  crown, 

Thou,  Liberty,  invest  thy  awful  son  ! 

Ye  nymphs  !  entwine  the  deathless  laurel  wreath 

Nor  Lethe  doom  our  joy  to  secret  death  ! 

Thus  shall  the  laurels  that  thy  brow  entwine 

Excel  the  bays  of  the  immortal  Nine  ; 

Thus  shall  the  crown  invest  thy  awful  brow 

While  trembling  bards  beneath  thy  sceptre  bow. 

Ye  politicians  !  haste  ere  yet  on  high 

Your  mighty  chief  ascends  his  native  sky, 

Ere  on  his  Pegasus  he  floats  the  air 

Borne  through  the  blaze  of  Berenice's  hair ! 

Ye  statesmen,  heroes,  bards  !  with  trembling  mien, 

Salute  the  glorious  chief  of  mortal  men  ! 

Ye  sons  of  freedom  !  swell  the  sighing  breeze 

With  plaudits  to  this  awful  Pericles  ! 

A  starry  god  within  the  vaulted  sky, 
Behold  his  blaze  of  immortality  ! 
Albeit  his  radiant  presence  we  must  weep, 
Perchance  his  beam  may  light  us  when  we  sleep, 
Cast  its  bright  ray  o'er  Dian's  cloudless  skies, 
And  greet  with  milder  light  our  tearful  eyes ! 
No  more  we  ask  ;  perchance  too  high  request 
Might  grieve  thy  soul  and  break  thy  wonted  rest. 
Fine  aspirant  to  wild  Draconic  power, 
How  much  we  dread  thy  beam  may  deign  to  lower, 
Shed  one  dull  ray  to  Clay's  chaotic  night, 
And  dim  our  eyes  with  thy  celestial  light ! 

The  chase  is  on — who  next  comes  coursing  in  ? 
19  Who  but  the  great  and  graceless  BENJAMIN  ? 
Taught  but  for  love  and  sport  to  snatch  the  lyre 
And  waste  in  air  his  genial  fun  and  fire. 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.        1 7 

Such  is  the  force  of  genius  in  its  might, 
To  force  the  muse  in  scorn  of  rule  and  right ! 
Such  is  the  charm  of  fame  to  lead  the  throng, 
To  seek  uncalled  the  sacred  mount  of  song. 
How  free  thy  pen,  how  swift  thy  volumes  sweep 
Their  perfect  flood  to  break  our  thoughtless  sleep ! 
How  like  the  deluge  of  the  olden  time 
Come  bursting  forth  the  fountains  of  thy  rhyme  ! 
As  reckless  too,  nor  spare  their  instant  wrath 
In  chance  for  life  to  seek  some  mountain  path, 
Nor  leave  the  wretch  one  fleeting  hour  to  save 
His  time  of  slumber  from  untimely  grave  I 
Pray,  not  to  weary  mortal  be  unkind ; 
Spare  for  the  sake  of  sense  and  all  mankind, 
Spare  for  the  mercy  due  to  brother  fools, 
And  learn  in  time  to  rhyme  by  juster  rules. 

•'Hail  soft  Humanity  !  whose  genial  ray 
Delights  the  soul  along  thy  simple  lay  I 
Friend  of  the  slave  !   whose  rough  and  rugged  verse 
Might  burst  his  chains,  his  hopeless  fate  reverse  t 

.v  claim  to  blest  Apollo's  sacred  1 
Since  not  his  beams  thy  lifeless  notes  insj 
But  well  attest  each  vacant  page  and  1 
Not  thine  the  care,  the  zeal  and  strength  divine 
To  prove  thy  muse  the  offspring  of  his  care, 
Unsought  his  grace,  or  not  received  thy  prayer. 

2 


1 8        THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

Nor  empty  rhyme  can  claim  the  proper  place 
Of  native  fire  and  nature's  modest  grace, 
But  feelings  deep  with  genius  must  combine 
To  make  the  bard  by  nature  meant  to  shine. 
No  matter  this — let  blame  be  light  to  thee, 
Thine  be  the  boast  of  soft  humanity  ; 
Thus  gentle  maidens  ne'er  shall  blush  to  see 
One  stain  of  earth  to  mar  virginity, 
And  hoary  sires  shall  greatly  joy  to  find 
No  base  seduction  to  the  youthful  mind. 
No  matter  now  for  genius,  mind  or  sense, 
A  puff  is  grandeur,  fool  is  no  offence  ; 
With  morals  pure,  and  fancy  mild  and  trim, 
Our  bard  is  perfect — all  complaint  is  whim. 

Delightful  BURLEIGH  !  hold  thy  matchless  strain 
21  Lest  secret  envy  swear  thy  labour  vain  ; 
Some  future  cause  may  need  thy  servile  pen, 
Abate  thy  heat,  let  patience  live  again  ! 

Not  weary  yet  ?     Then  turn  we  each  and  all 
To  greet  with  peace  the  soaring  PERCIVAL,22 
As  upward  borne  in  flight  but  just  begun, 
He  with  his  eagle  soars  to  greet  the  sun. 
What  muse  so  high  as  Clio  dare  ascend 
That  scarce  her  voice  the  ear  may  comprehend  ? 
What  if  her  airy  flight  she  cease  not  soon, 
Some  reckless  power  should  drive  her  to  the  moon  ? 
Farewell  to  hope  !  farewell  to  Clio's  name, 
May  weeping  earth  in  phrenzy  now  exclaim, 
Such  is  our  fate,  our  fondest  hopes  expand, 
One  moment  bloom,  then  seek  the  better  land  ! 
Celestial  bard  !  who  then  in  rhyme  shall  fail 
If  thou  for  careless  verse  art  not  in  jail  ? 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.        19 

Whose  awful  strokes  in  equal  rhyme  and  blank 
Might  sink  another  world,  explode  another  bank  ; 
Whose  pencil  ne'er  one  fault  will  cancel  o'er, 
Lest  in  its  course  it  chance  to  meet  with  more  ; 
Such  strange  enchantment  binds,  or  right  or  wrong, 
The  first  fond  thought  which  dulness  aids  along  ! 
Blest  age  !  when  thoughtless  dabblers  into  rhyme 
Are  like  the  sands  upon  the  shore  of  time. 
No  want  of  themes  ;  how  fair  this  gentle  earth, 
To  give  to  bards  and  song  an  equal  birth ! 

All  hail !  great  searcher  of  the  human  heart, 
As  great  in  prose  as  in  poetic  art, 
"Immortal  WILLIS,  hail !  in  whom  combine, 
The  base  and  great  with  wit  to  make  thce  shin 
An  exile  from  thy  native  land  and  home, 
Well  pleased  in  other  lands  to  rhyme  and  roam, 
Lest  villain  hands  should  strive  to  make  thee  just 
To  hungry  creditors,  ill-fed  on  trust ; 
As  light  in  heart  as  fickle  in  thy  mind, 
Canst  thou  describe  the  motives  of  mankind  ? 
Hast  thou  acquired  r  skill  to  sing 

The  flood  of  feeling  from  its  fountain  spring? 
As  well  might  Etna's  fiery  summit  bloom, 
Or  light  surround  the  cypress-shaded  tomb, 
As  thou  relate  in  numbers  fresh  and  true 
Whence  actions  spring,  or  life  its  essence  drew  ! 
Yet  canst  thou  write,  from  eastern  shore,  the  change 
Of  faithless  custom,  ever  wild  and  strange, 
Of  rhyme  from  thence  some  talc  of  hopeless  love 
To  please  fair  Venus  or  her  silly  dove  ; 
Address  the  Spring  or  April  in  a  lay, 
With  Wordsworth  for  thy  tune  in  mellow  May, 


2O         THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

Enough — to  gain  the  Western  critic's  praise 
And  crown  thy  brow  with  fadeless  laurel  bays ; 
Enough  to  gain,  where  more  should  own  the  name, 
A  poet's  prize,  a  poet's  envied  fame  ! 
Such  is  the  toil,  and  such  the  slightest  care 
To  swell  to-day  this  bubble  of  the  air  ! 

24  In  meads  of  green  and  woodland  shades  at  rest, 
Next  view  the  younger  BRYANT  greatly  blest, 
Who  with  his  brother-bards  alone  can  sing 
That  streamlets  gild  and  flowers  deck  the  spring, 
Nor  little  thinks  how  slight  the  profit  hence 
When  beauty  charms,  not  aids  our  common  sense ; 
How  slight  the  gain  to  gaze  till  time  is  old 
On  Moskvan  domes  with  cross  and  spires  of  gold, 
(Which  Baird  might  tell  in  lectures  by  the  way 
In  needful  aid  of  science  in  his  day.) 
Nor  graceful  art  deserves  our  graver  care, 
Save  as  the  traits  of  mind  are  written  there  ! 
Vain  thought !  that  Nature  rules  in  human  life 
Or  art  can  aid  us  in  the  spirit's  strife 
With  cold  existence,  or  can  backward  turn 
The  fearful  flame  where  pride  and  passion  burn  !  * 

When  sunset  softly  gilds  the  western  sky 
And  all  but  paints  enchantment  to  the  eye, 
Nor  wakes  a  sense,  but  wakes  to  love  the  hue 
From  farewell  beam  on  skies  of  azure  blue ; 

*  Such  are  the  views  which  open  on  him  who  would  inquire 
into  the  essence  by  which  man  is  distinguished  as  a  rational 
and  moral  being.  Compared  with  it  what  are  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature, — what  is  all  the  history  of  the  world, — the 
rise  and  fall  of  empires, — or  the  fate  of  those  who  rule  them  ? 
— ABBRCROMBIE. 


THE  POETS  A. YD  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.        21 

Can  scene  like  this,  the  fairest  of  our  earth, 
Awake  the  thoughts  of  more  than  mortal  birth, 
Or  rouse  the  nobler  feelings  of  the  soul  ? 
Or  is  delight  the  poet's  noblest  goal  ? 
Has  not  the  heart  its  passions,  as  the  brain 
The  power  to  light  the  fancy  in  its  train  ? 

!  there  are  springs  of  thought  and  feeling  chaste, 
No  vulgar  eye  hath  to  their  fountain  traced  ; 

.nows  the  bard  but  half  his  proper  art 
Who  aims  to  please  the  eye,  not  rend  the  heart. 

*Thus  bent  the  awful  bard  of  modern  time 
To  worship  Nature  in  her  native  clime  t 
Contracted  in  thy  sphere  as  in  thy  sense, 
*I  surely  mean  not,  WHITTIER,  an  offence. 
Ne'er  hast  thou  strayed  in  thought,  or  roam'd  afar 
Beyond  the  Hudson  or  the  polar  star, 
Nor  made  thy  genius  or  thy  wit  expand 
To  burst  in  air,  like  rockets  o'er  the  land  t 
Nay,  hadst  thou  watched  Aurora  in  her  dance, 
It  sure  had  rapt  thy  muse  in  solemn  trance, 
Or  some  magnetic  power  had  caught  thy  1, 
And  dragged  thee  on  to  perish  in  despair! 

hap  if  thence  had  fled  thy  burning  soul, 
Condemned  to  ride  the  rough  revolving  p< 
Could  earth  rejoice,  thy  goddess  nature  sing. 
Or  birds  return  to  cheer  the  birth  of  spring  ? 
Could  tender  hearts  but  at  thy  mischief  bleed, 
Astride  the  pole  to  guide  thy  fitful  steed  ? 
Or  lovely  maidens  at  thy  fate  dist: 
But  pray  that  jade  at  times  an  hour  of  rest  ? 
No— WHITTIER — no!  thou  must  not  stray  (sec  note 

ip  like  this  might  snatch  thy  wits  a\\v 


VP   f  «•»  MB    »* 


22         THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

Nor  seek  the  south,  where  spring  for  ever  reigns 
To  deck  the  sunny  mount  and  sloping  plains, 
Lest  too  much  heat  should  melt  thy  feeble  brain, 
And  turn  thy  wat'ry  muse  to  mist  again  ! 
No — WHITTIER— no  !  far  better  than  to  roam, 
To  cherish  pride  in  love  of  sacred  home, 
And  worship  Nature  in  her  solitude 
Beneath  thy  native  sky  and  mountains  rude  ; 
Thus  safe  to  sing  thy  tale  of  childhood  o'er, 
Till  infants  shout  and  humbly  ask  for  more. 

It  is  not  goddess  Nature  in  her  pride 
With  whom  the  charms  of  earth  and  air  reside, 
But  mental  essence  traced  unto  its  spring, 
Can  teach  the  native  bard  his  art  to  sing. 

Or  for  success,  must  passion  be  the  theme 

For  magic  art  to  picture  in  a  dream  ? 

But  wherefore  laugh  if  youth  should  dare  to  tell 

What  all  confess,  and  some  may  know  too  well. 

27  Such  is  thy  boast,  proud  HOLMES,  to  touch  the  heart, 

If  not  by  genius,  by  thy  native  art ! 

For  grant  thy  lofty  strain  but  once  begun, 

How  rich  and  how  exhaustless  is  thy  fun ! 

As  true  thy  song,  no  doubt,  as  holy  writ, 

One  merit  more — it  has  some  idle  wit. 

No  doubt  enough  thy  talent  by  its  birth 

To  cure  at  once  our  nature  from  its  dearth, 

Make  idiots  gods,  at  least  in  form  and  shape, 

From  noble  SAUNDERS  to  his  puny  ape, 

And  purge  the  public  taste  from  sickly  bile 

By  perfect  metamorphosis  of  style  ! 

So  light  thy  verse,  a  plaything  of  the  air, 

Must  mortal  live  on  unsubstantial  fare, 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.        3 

Or  he  who  takes  it  for  an  ague  chill, 
Must  own  at  least  it  was  a  pleasant  pill, 
Content  to  try  whate'er  our  Doctor  give, 
Nor  cherish  life  when  he  shall  cease  to  live. 
Strange  time  to  trifle  in  poetu 
When  most  esteem  it  an  unmeaning  chart, 
And  all  confess,  when  truth  asserts  her  throne, 
That  western  bards  are  worse  than  feeble  grown  ! 
v  Hail,  gentle  HILL!  whose  varied  beauties  shine 

native  beams  of  the  immortal  Nine  ! 
Far  is  thy  flight  o'er  classic  mount  and  isle, 
To  where  Athena's  ruins  strive  to  smile, 
And  Greece,  undying  Greece,  is  left  to  weep 
That  hero,  bard  and  sage  in  silence  sleep. 
Oh  blest !  though  late  indeed,  that  sunken  land, 
One  touch  to  gain  from  thy  redeeming  hand  ! 
"  Oh  blest !  in  aidance  of  her  hopeless  night 
To  gain  from  thce  one  beam  of  future  light  I 
Such  is  thy  magic  skill  from  death  to  save 
The  last  dim  shadows  from  a  living  grave  t 
Such  is  thy  art  to  gild  the  glory  past, 
How  man  must  mourn  if  thou  hast  sung  thy 
Boeotian  HILL!  whose  merits  all  repose 
In  rhyming  nouns,  unfit  for  proper  prose  I 
Nor  sense  thy  care  ;  enough  unmeaning  rhyme 
To  make  thy  fustian  strain  accomplish  time. 

*  In  sable  cowl,  beside  his  awful  throne, 
Behold  the  sacred  scribbler,  Bishop  DOANE  t 
Who,  lowly  bending  in  his  calm  r< 
Can  strike  for  fame  and  for  Apollo's  s 
Assume  alike,  as  if  for  change  the  while 
The  parson's  fearful  scowl  or  poet's  smile, 


24         THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

Invoke  the  silent  moon  or  Him  who  made, 
As  each  at  times  may  suit  his  double  trade, 
Explore  the  mystic  depths  of  thought  divine, 
Then  soar  aloft  and  with  the  planets  shine ! 
Thanks  to  the  Muse  who  sheds  on  all  her  light 
Till  blacklegs  sing  and  bishops  stoop  to  write  ! 
Thanks  to  great  Griswold  and  the  fertile  age  . 
That  make  and  save  the  bard  and  priceless  page ! 
Blest  time  !  when  all  from  priest  to  clown  may  sing, 
A  sickly  love  or  mania  touch  the  string ! 
No  dearth  of  rhyme  ;   or  might  our  Bishop  pray 
Till  rhyme  and  sense  alike  had  passed  away. 

31  Unhappy  CLARKE  !  whose  fate  to  pity  lends 
All  which  with  tender  thought  and  feeling  blends  ! 
Thine  was  the  heart  whose  passions  deep  and  strong, 
Not  pride,  impelled  to  seek  the  mount  of  song  ; 
Nor  thine  the  lays  which  fit  the  tuneless  lyre, 
That  sleeping  Muse  to  dulness  might  inspire, 
But  that  which  melts  and  moulds  the  manly  heart, 
By  genius  taught  the  force  of  grace  and  art. 
Peace  to  thy  shade  !  in  joy  supremely  blest, 
May  bliss  thy  soul  compose  to  needful  rest. 

Not  such  the  master  of  the  classic  lay, 
Blest  child  of  god  and  goddess  passed  away  ! 
Or  who  that  sings  the  gods,  albeit  unlike, 
82  More  seems  their  proper  son  than  ALBERT  PIKE  ? 
Or  whose  the  envied  skill  such  theme  to  try 
Nor  make  in  lifeless  song  the  deathless  die  ? 
Gods  of  the  antique  world  !  once  more  return 
Let  fanes  arise  and  gifted  altars  burn, 
That  he,  your  son,  Apollo's  latest  priest, 
May  sing  your  praise,  and  on  your  victims  feast. 


THF.   POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.        25 

Oh  Albert  Pike  !  stick  to  thy  godlike  lay, 

Thy  gods  and  goddesses  in  long  array  ! 

No  matter  if  in  wit  and  judgment  \vcak, 

Thy  faults  confess,  their  grace  and  pardon  seek. 

Out  with  thy  notes  !  thy  voice  shall  far  rebound, 

Till  deeper  tones  than  Orphic  swell  the  sound, 

Each  brawling  cat  shall  own  the  matchless  tune, 

And  oaks  shall  bow  the  leafy  pride  of  June. 

As  some  soft  stream  which  glides  unheard  along, 

So  glide  thy  music,  so  expire  thy  song, 

So  melt  thy  melody  into  the  soul 

*  That  not  thy  foe  may  say — it  all  was  stole ! 
Oh  ALBERT  PIKK!  how  much  the  gods  should 
To  thec  the  clearer  title  to  their  thro: 

How  much  approve  their  offspring  as  divine 

ings  their  might  and  vindicates  their  line! 
Long  may  they  joy  to  grace  thy  rising  name. 
And  gild  thy  Liter  a^e  with  godli1 
Then  hence  to  join  their  banquet  lull 

Nor  ease  thy  pride  with  more  than  Y  11 ! 

*  Now  clear  the  way — prepare  our  next  to  meet, 
The  forest  child  in  shape  of  ALFRED  STREET  ! 
Whose  god,  the  rur.il  Pan,  in  secret  shade, 
Where  nymphs  repose  and  more  than  love  is  made, 
Grant  but  thy  horn  and  hounds— then  wake  the  muse, 
Crack  at  the  chase  till  day  her  light  refuse  1 

Oh  ALFRED  STREET!  when  shall  we  meet  again 

mind  of  might,  thy  own  prolific  pen  ? 
Thy  modest  muse  in  sylvan  shades  at  rest, 
So  sweeps  her  fire  along  thy  heaving  breast, 
Thy  moving  strain  so  falls  upon  the  car, 
So  helpless  falls  the  tribute  of  a  tear  I 


26         THE  POETS  AND   POETRY   OF  AMERICA. 

Some  hunter  lost  where  none  could  go  astray, 

Or  but  in  dream,  as  thou  in  many  a  lay, 

Some  forest  scene  where  dogs  might  hunt  the  game, 

Thy  worthy  theme,  thy  ground  of  fadeless  fame  ! 

No  matter — if  thy  verse  is  sometimes  weak, 

A  slighter  cause  would  scarce  for  vengeance  speak — 

None — if  thy  crime  should  be  to  rhyme  in  vain — 

The  self  same  path  thy  brother  bards  have  ta'en. 

Alone  we  fear,  lest  by  her  nature  mild 

Thy  muse  be  lost  amid  her  woodland-wild, 

Nor  by  her  feeble  voice  alarm  the  chase 

Till  hope  is  lost,  and  past  her  hour  of  grace. 

But  such,  in  sooth,  our  modern  bards  appear, 
The  fittest  subjects  for  our  fitful  jeer. 
So  free  the  muse  to  wanton  in  embrace 
With  every  fool  who  dares  to  give  her  chase, 
That  boys  may  write  and  infants  snatch  the  pen 
To  praise  her  charms  in  woodland  cave  and  glen. 
For  grant  but  needful  impudence  and  pride, 
With  less  of  wit  than  vanity  allied  ; 
Some  soft  amour,  perchance  by  scorn  repaid, 
Three  grains  of  sense — our  bard  is  ready  made  ! 
As  noble,  too,  the  critics  of  our  land 
To  cherish  all  who  dare  to  lift  the  hand  ; 
Spontaneous  as  mushrooms  to  grace  the  spring, 
As  soft  to  all  the  tribe  who  dare  to  sing ! 

Precocious  ffi  SARGENT  !  to  the  drama  dear, 
As  wild  in  verse  as  Pallas  in  her  sphere, 
Less  soft  in  tone  than  owlets  of  the  night, 
By  shame  compell'd  to  shun  the  common  light ! 
Yet  proud  in  thy  Velasctfs  name  of  dread 
As  that  might  raise  to  life  the  lifeless  dead, 


THE  POETS  AXD  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.         1} 

Make  angels  weep,  the  sternest  quail  in  fear, 
Till  final  anguish  shed  the  helpless  tear  ! 
Who  then  shall  fail  if  verse  like  thine  shall  gain 
The  palm  of  praise,  or  not  the  curse  of  Cain  ? 
If  such  the  child  of  genius  and  of  taste, 
What  carl  may  not  in  language  be  as  chaste  ? 
Not  thine  the  loftier  wit  or  nicer  sense 
To  guard  thy  verse  and  save  from  harsh  often c 
Thyself  a  living  proof  that  senseless  pride 
Most  richly  thrives  where  sense  is  most  denied. 
Great  thanks  to  thee  and  thy  dramatic  Muse, 
That  palm  to  claim  was  thine  alone  to  lose, 
Nor  leave  to  Hillhouse  all  the  praise  or  blame, 
But  link  to  his  thy  worse  than  worthless  name ! 

In  dreamy  mask  behold,  with  brow  of  pride 
*  The  southern  SIMMS  in  grandeur  glide  !  l4 
Hold  Pegasus,  thy  fearful  pace,  nor  bear 
That  lord  of  thine  beyond  the  realms  of  air  ! 
Oh  !  spare  the  fatal  truth  of  all  our  fears, 
Spare  for  the  priceless  meed  of  sighs  and  tears  1 
Not  I  ring's  self  could  more  romance  imp 
To  grace  the  tale  and  hide  the  lure  of 
So  fresh  in  thought,  so  rich  in  thoughtless  mind, 
Spare,  for  the  sake  of  verse  and  all  mankind  I 
Thus  shall  our  bard  delay  his  lifeless  rhyme, 
To  sing  the  requiem  to  the  death  of  time. 

But  where  the  tragic  muse— the  drama— where  ? 

No  voice  replies,  save  echo  through  th 

Oh  double  shame  to  genius  and  the  age  t 

No  bard  to  trace  the  spirit  in  its  rage, 

To  paint  despair — revenge — the  wild  and  free — 

Invent  a  plot  or  touch  catastrophe. 


28         THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

Not  quite  so  high  our  poet  dares  to  aim, 

Nor  heeds  the  drama  in  his  thirst  for  fame. 

Why  sleeps  the  mind  ?  can  daring  teach  no  more 

The  grand  conception  rich  from  mental  lore  ? 

Is  passion  fled,  the  curbless  and  the  strong, 

That  idlesse  reigns  the  master  of  the  song  ?  29 

Why  trembling  view  the  trophies  of  the  past 

While  mind  survives  and  music  fills  the  blast  ? 

What  mind  has  done  can  mind  again  achieve, 

Shame  on  the  faithless — doubts  can  ne'er  relieve. 

Let  inspiration  light  her  guiding  fire, 

Breathe  through  the  soul  a  holy,  calm  desire, 

Compel  to  action,  and  inflame  the  breast, 

Long  taught  by  ease  to  hold  inglorious  rest ; 

The  self-same  elements  as  yet  remain — 

Let  thought  awake — the  drama  live  again  ! 

Blest  art  invention  !  for  to  thee  is  due 

The  proudest  boast,  the  praise  of  something  new  ! 

Not  feeble  fancy  in  her  airy  flight, 

At  her  own  shadow  sure  to  take  affright, 

But  that  which  dares  in  aidance  of  our  strife  29 

To  add  some  fresher  charm  to  vary  life. 

Colossal  thought !  gigantic  vastitude  ! 

Ideal  grandeur  built  in  structure  rude  ! 

What  pride  to  trace  the  bold  inventive  art 

That  elevates  and  swells  the  mind  and  heart ; 

What  joy  to  soar  as  high  as  mind  can  go 

37  To  catch  the  thought  which  led  an  Angelo, 

Expand  the  sense  with  bold  conception's  flight 

And  almost  tremble  at  our  dizzy  height ! 

All  daring  images  and  forms  which  dwell 

With  fearless  fancy  in  her  awful  cell  ; 


THE  POETS  A\D  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.        29 

All  dancing  fairies  of  the  silver  night, 

And  ghosts  more  terrible  than  men  in  fight ; 

The  muse  who  guides,  and  god  who  moves  the  song, 

Invention,  airy  art !  to  thee  belong, 

Perfection,  true,  shall  mortal  ne'er  attain 

While  all  confess  our  nature's  hopeless  chain. 

Still  what  we  may,  should  daring  still  achieve, 
Conception  furnish  and  the  fancy  weave. 
Oh  could  we  grasp  the  infinite  of  grand, 
And  catch  sublime  from  angels  where  they  stand, 
Like  these  ideal,  and  as  light  and  free. 
Embrace  immortal  and  as  clearly  see  ; 
Leave  earth  and  false  conception  far  behind, 
Then  might  some  praise  await  the  human  mind. 

But  wherefore  longer  hunt  such  worthless  game, 
The  toil  so  well  repaid  by  all  but  fame  ? 
Perchance  unfclt,  my  shaft  may  idly  i 
No  matter  this— my  best  regards  to  all  1 
Or  if  unhurt  I  from  the  strife  withdraw, 
One  cause  alone— our  bards  revere  the  law  I 
But  if  my  spirit  some  may  wish  to 
Crack  at  the  muse — I  pledge  a  prompt  reply. 
The  task  unsought ;  I  would  not  seek  to  be 
Corrector  of  this  age  of  poesy  ; 
*  But  when  our  bards  disdain  poetic  laws, 
Slight  sense  indeed  to  ask  a  better  cause  I 

.  none  hath  dared  the  loftier  paths  of  song, 
but  must  own  that  senseless  praise  is  wrong  ? 
m  If  hence  their  mortal  hate  my  path  oppose, 
My  heart  is  strong— I  with  the  challenge  close. 

I  would  no  more — let  each  his  style  correct, 
.id  stand  as  man,  erect. 


30        THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

For  still,  in  spite  of  reason  and  the  laws 

Shall  ceaseless  rhyme  the  senseless  RUFUS  DAWES  ?  • 

Neglect  the  rules  of  order  and  the  muse, 

Nor  share  the  fate  of  Jonah  or  the  Jews  ? 

41  Shall  LOWELL  still  by  dreams  inflate  his  pride, 
And  ramble  most  where  most  the  mists  reside  ? 

42  Shall  GOODRICH  leave  his  Parley  by  the  end, 
And  seek  by  rhyme  to  raise  an  outcast  friend  ? 
Or  fools  maintain  without  some  slight  offence 
That  rhyme  can  spring  from  ev'ry  hue  of  sense  ? 
Correct,  correct  your  folly  and  your  style, 

I  ask  no  more,  unless  at  times  to  smile, 
This  done,  I  lay  for  ever  down  the  pen 
That  ne'er  shall  strive  to  make  you  blush  again. 

Sons  of  the  brave,  awake  !  but  let  the  mind 
Assert  her  sway,  and  thought  be  unconfined, 
The  lusts  of  sense  no  longer  rule  retain, 
And  mind,  not  matter,  be  the  rage  again ! 
Let  this,  no  more  by  toys  or  trifles  bound 
Resume  its  might,  and  by  its  might  confound  ; 
Despise  each  idol  of  the  heart  and  eye, 
All  save  that  fame  which  is  not  born  to  die  ; 
Approve  the  deathless  flame  to  mortals  given, 
Ascend  the  sky  and  claim  its  kindred  heaven  ! 
Land  of  the  fair,  awake  !  let  genius  rise 
Explore  the  goal  and  press  the  bold  emprise  ! 
Let  nicer  taste  each  faulty  phrase  detect, 
Commend  the  true,  the  false  and  light  reject ; 
Seek  out,  admire  and  love  the  constant  laws 
Which  guide  the  world  by  one  Eternal  Cause  ; 
Thus  let  the  bard  his  awful  tale  relate, 
As  grand  in  subject,  as  in  meaning  great. 


THE  POETS  AXD  POETRY  OF   AMERICA.        31 

Clime  of  the  free !  might  but  thy  bards  reclaim 
Their  by-gone  censure  from  enduring  shame  ! 
Ask  but  the  bard,  the  Ascrean  sage,  to  say, 
Did  genius  guide  him,  or  his  muse  betray  ? 
Hath  Homer  sung  but  by  his  native  might, 
By  genius  led  to  Fame's  eternal  height  ? 
Let  genius  wake  and  touch  the  magic  string 
Nor  list  thy  sons  but  when  the  gifted  sing  ; 
Let  inspiration  gain  the  just  applause, 
Nor  bards  be  blest  but  for  a  proper  cause. 

Arise,  yc  bards  !  assume  the  nobler  lay! 

Let  common  sense  and  genius  lead  the  \\ 

New  worlds  create  of  deathless  thought  and  mind, 

And  prove  yourselves  an  honour  to  mankind  ; 

Ne'er  let  the  muse  those  meaner  themes  regard, 

Or  not  complain  the  poet's  fate  is  hard  t 

Let  *  Cambridge  rouse  her  proud  adopted  son 

The  bard  to  dare,  nor  themes  sublime  to  shun  ; 

Let   BRYANT,   HALLECK,    SPRAGUE,    once    more 

awake, 

Till  newer  beams  shall  on  their  vision  break, 
More  fearless  muse  ascend  on  loftier  v. 
And  distant  realms  shall  with  their  plaudits  ring. 
Awake,  ye  bards !  and  hammer  out  a  style, 
44  If  not  from  Pope,  from  grandeur  and  Carlyle  ! 
Abyss  of  thought  and  mass  of  mind  profound  t 
If  not  a  model,  let  it  not  confound. 
Be  genius  fearless,  yet  as  chaste  and  true 
As  Maro  sung  or  old  Apelles  drew  ; 
The  fancy  bold,  yet  cautious  in  her  flight 
To  scan  the  world  and  search  the  realms  of  light, 
Thus  shall  our  land  some  future  honour  claim 
From  her  own  bards,  to  crown  her  rising  name. 


32         THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA. 

45  With  you,  ye  minor  bards,  I  hold  not  war ; 
Much  as  yourselves  would  I  that  strife  abhor, 
Too  dull  your  muse  offence  to  give  or  take, 
My  hate  to  rouse,  or  at  my  thrust  awake  ; 

So  cold  your  strain,  so  dead  your  accents  fall, 

Great  thanks  to  Griswold  that  ye  live  at  all ! 

Oh !  better  far  that  each  would  but  appear 

As  nature  meant,  a  native  muleteer, 

Would  hold  the  plough,  prepare  or  guide  the  plane, 

Nor  curse  the  land  with  senseless  trash  again. 

Still  must  we  hear  some  infant  poet  born, 

46  Some  noble  CRANCH  or  CROSWELL  most  forlorn  ? 
Shall  perfect  swarms,  like  insects  dim  the  air, 

Like  weeds  arise  and  bloom  without  a  care  ? 
Great  bards  !  without  a  title  or  a  name, 
Persist  in  verse — an  airy  thing  is  fame  ! 
No  Pope  shall  raise  his  blasting  voice  to  curse 
Your  dream  of  dulness,  or  your  idle  verse, 
No  Byron  breathe  sarcastic  death  to  quell 
The  harmless  muse,  or  sink  to  native  hell ; 
No  fear — be  bold,  in  freedom's  land  ye  live, 
Whose  critics  kiss  and  loving  hearts  forgive. 

Thus  have  I  sought  some  proper  ire  to  show 
Where  priest  could  puff  and  editor  could  blow 
A  mooncalf  swell  to  match  a  gazetteer, 
Yet  each  insist  a  bard  he  must  appear ! 
I  too  can  rhyme,  and  in  my  time  have  sung 
When  hope  was  high,  and  infant  muse  was  young, 
Too  proud  in  sense,  too  much  of  manly  tone, 
I  gave  but  challenge  to  be  heard  and  known, 
No  crouching  prayer  to  gain  the  critic  round, 
No  favour  sought,  nor  common  mercy  found. 


THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  AMERICA.        33 

Yet  thanks  to  western  fools  !  in  haste  to  kill 
c  They  could  not  gall  me  with  satiric  quill ! 
Once  more  I  wait  a  better  chance  to  meet 
That  noble  pack  the  hounds  of  Goslin  Street ! 
Alike  I  scorn  great  GRISWOLD'S  brow  of  rage, 
Young  BRYANT'S  scowl  or  BURLEIGH'S  wrathful  page; 
Let  southern  puff  and  northern  giant  rise 
I  lisp  to  all — take  physic  and  be  wise  ! 
Once  could  I  bear  all  which  the  best  can  bear, 
Could  scorn  at  pain,  and  hate  at  times  the  fair, 
But  now,  by  slight  experience  taught  to  strike, 
m  I  but  repel  where  others  make  dislike  ; 

*  Too  well  my  gentle  spirit  some  may  know  : 
Cry  up  the  chase — I  can  repay  a  blow  ; 
Once  I  could  bend  or  feign  to  bend  the  knee. 
When  conscience  told  'twas  order's  just  decree, 
I  could  dissemble  scorn,  and  strive  to  seem 

As  calm  as  love  embracing  in  a  dream  ; 
No  change  '  could  drag  resentment  from  its  r< 
My  brow  was  smooth,  my  heart  was  well  posse 
What  now  is  done,  not  prudence  would  recall, 
If  pain  ensue,  what  sooner  might  befall  ? 
Should  public  hate  upon  my  pen  react, 

*  No  matter  this— I  will  not  aught  retract. 

LAVANTE. 

•  qy.  "  charge." — ED. 


INDEX    TO    SATIRE 
(NOT  IN  THE  ORIGINAL). 


old, 3,  7,  32 

Saunders, 4,  i 

Bryant, 7,  20,  31,33 

Dana,  7,  8,  n,  12 

Halleck, 7,  14,  31 

Sprague, 7,9,11,13,3! 

Willis,  8,  n,  19 

Holmes,  ......  8,  22 

Doane, 3,1 

Pcrcival, 8,  9,  1 1 .  i  S 

Burleigh, 9»II»l8»33 

Pike,  

Simms, 9,  27 

Benjamin,  .         .         .         .         .         .         .      9,  16 

Hoffman, 9,  n 

Sargent, 9,  26 

\Vhitticr, 17  (?),  21 

23 

Clarke,  .....  24 

Stn  25 

Dawes, 30 

Lowell,  .......          30 

Goodrich,  .......          30 

Cranch, 32 

Crosswell, 32 

Longfellow, 31 


NOTES. 


1  "  I*  Mr— we  ask  his  pardon— the  Reverend  Mr.— Gris  wold,  the  man 
of  varied  talents,  of  genius,  of  known  skill,  of  overweening  intellect,  he 
was  somewhUe  pictured,  or  is  he  the  arrant  literary  quack  he  is  now  en- 
tided  by  the  American  press  f  .  .  .  One  of  the  most  clumsy  liter- 
ary thieves,  who,  in  his  wildest  aspirations,  never  even  dreamed  of  an 
original  thought."—  Pocf*  review  of  Griswold's  book  on  the  Poets. 

•  *'  A  satire  is,  of  course,  no/0r*v,"  says  Poe  in  his  review  of  Bryant 
(voLiu.,  p.  i8a,  Griswold's  ed.).  The  italics  are  his.  This  bears  out  the 
hypothesis  that  Foe's  »ensutveo«s*  to  criticism,  and  his  passion  for  orir 
iaality  were  additional  reasons  for  publishing  "a  satire*1 

The  imiquiPMi  of  "The  Raven "  and  "The  Bells"  is  not  | 

I      •  r  •  •  r 

.'  If  we  are  to  believe  the  critics  and  the  press  at  Urge,  says  Poe,  "we 
shall  find  ourselves  the  most  enviable  people  on  the  bee  of  the  earth. 
Our  fine  writers  are  legion.  .  .  .  All  our  poets  are  Miltons,  neither 

mutji  rif^  •••ImiiMia  mmut  •^•iilni  In  i»l>_tt  •  •  i      »Ko 

•mv  DOT  HgjonouSi  •  •  •  ano  everyuooy  WDO  WTIICS  •  .  •  is  me 
admirable  Crichtoo.  or.  at  Itait.  the  admirable  Crichtoo'*  ghost.**— Poe 
in  the  review  of  ••  Q**t**  •/ l/ttic**." 

•  Poe  has  a  ••  Margtaofift  "  note  on  Dr.  Espy,  a  scientist  who,  he  says, 
borrowed  from  Bacon. 

•In  his  critique  of  Griswold's  book  Poe  charges  C.  with  being  a  puff 
in  the  mask  of  a  critic. 

•  "  I  allude  to  the  heresy  of  Tk*  DbUctit,  a  heresy  too  palpably  false 
to  be  long  tolerated,  but  one  which,  in  the  brief  period  it  has  already  en- 
dured, may  be  amid  to  have  accomplished  more  in  the  corruption  of  our 
poetical  literature  than  all  its  other  enemies  combined.     .     .     .     Every 
poem,  it  is  said,  should  inculcate  a  moral,  and  by  this  moral  is  the  poet- 
kaJ  merit  of  the  work  to  be  adjudged.    We  Americans  especially  have 
patronised  this  happy  idea ;  and  we  Boston  tans,  very  especially,  have 
developed  it  in  fulL"-Poc  in  "  Tk<  /W/«r  / Vi«r/>6>." 


2  NOTES. 

7  "  The  fact  is  son^e  persons  should  write  at  once  a  Magazine  Paper 
exposing — ruthlessly  exposing,  the  dessous  de  cartes  of  our  literary  af- 
fairs.    He  should  show  how  and  why  it  is  that  the  ubiquitous  quack  in 
letters  can  always  '  succeed,'  while  genius,  (which  implies   self-respect, 
with  a  scorn  of  creeping  and  crawling)  must  inevitably  succumb." — Poe 
on  Bayard  Taylor,  in  The  Literati. 

"  That  the  opinion  of  the  Press  is  not  an  honest  opinion  ...  is 
never  denied  by  the  members  of  the  Press  themselves.  .  .  .  Let  in 
America  a  book  be  published  by  an  unknown,  careless,  or  uninfluential 
author  ;  if  he  publishes  it  '  on  his  own  account '  he  will  be  confounded  at 
finding  that  no  notice  is  taken  of  it  at  all."  (Does  not  this  remark  of 
Poe  to  some  extent  explain  why  this  "Lavante  "  satire  seems  to  have 
been  ignored  by  the  Press  ?  Poe  proceeds  to  describe  at  some  length 
how  certain  authors  contrive  by  underhand  means  to  get  their  bocks 
puffed,  and  he  adds),  "  the  effect  of  this  system  is  obvious.  In  ninety- 
nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred,  men  of  genius,  too  indolent  and  careless 
about  worldly  concerns  to  bestir  themselves  after  this  fashion  have  also 
that  pride  of  intellect  which  will  prevent  them,  under  any  circumstances, 
f.  om  evv  n  insinuating,  by  the  presentation  of  a  book  to  a  member  of  the 
Press,  the  desire  to  have  that  book  reviewed.  They,  consequently  and 
their  works,  are  utterly  overwhelmed  and  extinguished  in  the  flood  of  the 
apparent  public  adulation  upon  which  in  gilded  barges  are  borne  tri- 
umphant the  ingenious  toady  and  the  diligent  quack." — Poe  on  W. 
Cullen  Bryant,  in  The  Literati. 

8  Poe  invokes  the  "  spirits  of  Pope,  Byron,  et  al.,  forgive  our  desecra- 
tion of  the  name  "  poetry  for  Gris wold's  rhymes. — Ibid. 

9  "  We  shall  reach  more  immediately  a  more   distinct  conception  of 
what  true  poetry  is  by  mere  reference  to  a  few  of  the  simple  elements 
which   induce  in  the  poet  himself  the  true  poetical  effect.     He   recog- 
nizes the  ambrosia  which  nourishes  his  soul,  in  the  bright  orbs  that  shine 
in  Heaven,  in  the  volutes  of  the  flower,     ...     in   the  blue  distance 
of  mountains,  in  the  grouping  of  clouds,     ...     in  the  star-mirroring 
depths  of  lonely  wells.     .     .     .     He  owns  it  in  all  noble  thoughts,  in  all 
unworldly  motives,  in  all  holy  impulses,  in  all  chivalrous,  generous  and 
self-sacrificing  deeds.     He  feels  it  in  the  beauty  of  woman,     ...     in 
her  burning  enthusiasms,  but  above  all,  ah  !  far  above  all,  he  kneels  to 
it,  he  worships  it  in  the  faith,  in  the  purity,  in  the  strength,  in  the  alto- 
gether divine  majesty  of  her  lovef — Poe,  in  "  The  Poetic  Principle*' 

10  (Referring  to  Griswold's  book.)  "  If  ever  such  a  thing  as  literary  ruin 
exists,  nine-tenths  of  the  Poets  (!)  of  America  are  ruined  for  ever  by  the 
praise  of  Mr.  Griswold  !     This  is  our  unvarnished  opinion  ;  and  as  we 


:-£S.  3 

have  established  the  fact  of  our  knowing  something  of  Poetry  and  its 
concomitants,  and  that  Mr.  Griswold  is  as  ignorant  of  it  and  them  as  a 
Kickapoo  Indian,  we  fancy  it  will  pass  for  current  coin."—  Poe's  critique 
ofGriswold'sbook. 

I  1  Griswold  "  rose  from  comparative  insignificance  to  be  the  idol  of  all 
the  poetical  editors  and  would-be  great  men  in  America."  —  ItfuL 

Mr.  Willis  is  yet  young.  .  .  .  Without  being  handsome  .  .  . 
his  face  is  somewhat  too  full,  or  rather  heavy  in  its  lower  portions. 
Neither  his  nose  nor  his  forehead  can  be  defended  ;  the  latter  would 
puzzle  phrenology."—  Poe,  in  The  Lit, 

"  However  highly  we  respect  Mr.  Willis*  talents  we  feel  nothing  but 
comeiapt  far  his  affectation*,"—  Poe,  in  the  Broadway  Journal,  Oc- 
tober n,  1845. 

*'  The  very  best,  in  my  opinion,  poem  which  Willis  has  ever  written 
("The  shadows  lay  along  Broadway**)  .  .  .  breathes  an  earnest- 
ness, an  evident  sincerity  of  sentiment,  for  which  we  look  in  vain  through 
»U  the  other  works  of  this  author."—  Poe's  t§  Tke  Poetic  Principle." 
(See  also  note  23.) 

II  "  Griswold  says,  *  at  a  versifier  Holmes  is  equal  to  Tennyson,  and 
with  th«  same  patient  effort  would  every  way  surpass  him/     We  advise 
Dr.  Holmes,  who  does  possess  some  merit  as  a  versifier,  to  beg  Mr. 
Griswold  not  to  puff  him,  or  be  may  depend  upon  his  poems  being  in- 
continently d—  d."—  Poc's  critique  on  Griswold.    (See  not*  17.) 

I  he  caesura  (a  pause  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  producing 
harmony)  has  been  used  by  afl  our  poets,  hat  with  a  perfect  ignorance  of 
its  present  character.  This  discovery,  as  well  as  this  mode  of  scansion, 


of  oar  language  than  any  living  grammarian,  critic,  or  essay- 


PoeOfamiHthMtyhisownaseofitu  the  fourth  of  the  following 
lines  from  his  "  Haunted  Palace.*  It  gives  a  striking  emphasis,  and  is 
to  osed  three  times  in  this  satire, 

Once  a  fair  and  stately  pamct 

Radiant  palace—  reared  its  bead. 

In  the  monarch  Thought's  dominion* 

It  stood  there! 

Never  seraph  spread  a  pinion 

Over  fabric  half  so  fair  !-/*<* 

"  Hoffman's  only  merit  is  his  wealth."—  Ibid. 
Griswold  uioaoMBM  HnflmM  a  brilliant  poet,  speaks  of  his  graphic 


4  NOTES. 

descriptive  powers,  richness  and  purity  of  style,  and  places  him  also  in 
the  front  rank  as  a  novelist.  No  American  equal  to  him  as  a  song 
writer.  (We  note  that  in  the  chorus  to  each  verse  of  a  long  song, 
Hoffman  makes  "room  "  rhyme  to  "moon.")  Griswold  devotes  five 
pages  more  to  specimens  of  this  writer  than  he  allows  to  any  other  Ameri- 
can poet.  Poe  elsewhere  hints  that  Griswold  accepted  payment  from 
certain  writers  for  extra  space  devoted  to  their  rhymes. 

15  "As  regards  Dana,  it  is  more  than  possible  that  I  may  be  doing 
him  wrong.     I  have  not  read  him  since  I  was  a  boy,  and  must  read  him 
carefully  again.     The  Frogpondians  have  badgered  me  so  much  that  I 
fear  I  am  apt  to  fall  into  prejudices  about  them." — Foe's  Letter,  Decem- 
ber 15,  1846  (Ingram,  ii.,  103). 

Griswold  pronounces  Dana  a  true  poet.  Dana  had  written  "The 
Dying  Raven"  in  1825,  and  had  lectured  on  "Poets  and  Poetry"  in 
1839. 

16  "It is  to  be  hoped  that  common-sense,  in  the  time  to  come,  will 
prefer  deciding  upon  a  work  of  art  rather  by  the  impression  it  makes,  by 
the  effect  it  produces,  than  by  the  time  it  took  to  impress  the  effect,  or  by 
the  '  sustained  effort '  which  had  been  found  necessary  in  effecting  the 
impression.     The  fact  is  that  perseverance  is  one  thing  and  genius  quite 
another." — Poe,  in  "  The  Poetic  Principle" 

17  Griswold  praises  Sprague  for  his  good  sense,  vivid  descriptions, 
and  faultless  style. 

"  I  hold  that  the  phrase  '  a  long  poem '  is  simply  a  flat  contradiction 
in  terms.  A  poem  deserves  its  title  only  inasmuch  as  it  excites  by  ele- 
vating the  soul." — Ibid. 

18  "  In  versification  Mr.  Halleck  is  much  as  usual.     .     .     .     'Marco 
Bozzaris'  has  certainly  some  rhythm,  but  its  author,  in  short,  writes  care- 
lessly, loosely,  and  as  a  matter  of  course  seldom  effectively  so  far  as  the 
outworks  of  literature  are  concerned.    .     .    .     Mr.  Halleck  in  the  appar- 
ent public  estimate  maintains  a  somewhat  better  position  than  that  to 
which,  on  absolute  grounds  he  is  entitled."— Poe,  in  The  Literati. 

"  It"  ("  Infatuation,"  a  poem  spoken  before  the  Mercantile  Library 
Association,  October,  1844)  "  is  not  sufficiently  pronounced  in  its  object 
to  warrant  us  in  classing  it  with  '  legitimate  '  satire,  but  there  is  enough 
in  it,  we  think,  to  show  conclusively  that  the  author  might  succeed  if  he 
pleased  in  this  class  of  writing,  at  least  as  well,  if  not  very  much  better 
than  any  of  his  countrymen  who  have  preceded  him.  The  poem  is  full 
of  nerve,  point  and  terseness— the  thrusts  are  dexterous  and  well  aimed 


NOTES.  5 

—and  the  versification  peculiarly  good  of  its  kind."— Poe,  in  the  Broad- 
way Journal^  March  15,  1845. 

*•  "  Man  is,  in  fact,  only  incidentally  a  poetic  theme  :— we  mean  the 
heart  and  intellect  of  Man — matters  which  the  pseudo-transcendentalists 
of  Frogpondium  are  perpetually  attempting  to  force  into  poetry — with  no 
other  object  than  to  impart  to  their  doggrel  an  air  of  profundity." — Poe, 
in  BroadnMiy  Journal^  December  27,  1845 . 

**  Griswold  describes  Burleigh  as  at  one  time  a  printer,  afterwards  an 
editor  and  lecturer.  He  gives  fourteen  specimens  of  Burlcigh's  rhymes 
and  only  three  of  Poe's  poems. 

-  swold  pronounces  Percival  the  most  prolific  and  fanciful  of 
American  poets.  Few  are  move  learned  than  he.  The  poem  "  Clio  " 
was  published  in  three  sections,  at  intervals.  H e  ad d  *."  Percival  lacks 
the  artistic  skill,  or  declines  the  labour,  without  which  few  authors  gain 
immortality.'* 

\s  a  poet  Mr.  Willis  is  not  entitled,  I  think,  to  so  high  a  rank 
as  he  may  justly  claim  for  his  prose,  .  .  .  1 :  •  styU  proper  may  be 
called  extravagant,  4**«rrs,  pointed."— Poe,  in  Tkt  Litrrati. 

void  praises  Willis  for  his  "  exquisite  finish  and  melody,  his  lan- 
guage pore,  varied  and  rich,  his  imagination  brilliant,  and  his  wit  of  the 
finest  quality  "  (See  note  i a.) 

N  Rryant  a  better  poet  than  Longfellow  ?  Certainly  not,  for  in 
Longfellow's  pages  the  spirit  of  poetry -»VrV*//r>- walks  abroad,  while 
Bryant's  sole  merit  is  tolerable  versification  and  fine  marches  of  descrip- 
tion. LoogfaOow  is  unquestionably  the  best  poet  m  America."- Poe's 
Critique  of  Griswold's  /W/i. 

"  It  will  never  do  to  daim  for  Bryant  a  genius  of  the  loftiest  order, 
bm  there  has  been  latterly,  since  the  days  of  Mr.  Longfellow  and  Mr. 
LoweO,  •  growing  disposition  to  deny  htm  /r»i«*  in  may  respect 
•Thanatopsis'  is  the  pom  by  which  Bryant  is  best  known, 
but  it  is  by  no  means  his  best  poem.  .  .  .  The  concluding  thought 
it  exceedingly  noble,  and  has  done  wonders  for  the  success  of  the  whole 
composition.  .  .  .  He  is,  in  the  '  minor  morals,*  the  most  gener- 
ally correct  of  our  poets  "—Poe,  in  "  Tkt  Littrati."  (See  note 

*•  "  I  need  scarc«ily  observe  that  a  poem  deserves  its  title  only  inas- 
much as  it  excites,  by  elevating  the  soul.  .  .  .  He  who  shall  simply 
•me.  with  however  glowing  enthusiasm,  or  with  however  vivid  a  truth  of 
description,  of  the  sights,  and  sounds,  and  odors,  and  colours,  and  senti- 
ments, which  greet  kim  in  common  with  all  mankind— he,  I  say,  has 
yet  failed  to  prove  his  divine  title."— Poe,  in  Tkt  Pett 


6  NOTES. 

26  "A  fine  versifier    .     .     .     but  in  taste,  and  especially  in  imagina- 
tion— which  Coleridge  has  justly  styled  the  soul  of  all  poetry — he  is  ever 
remarkably  deficient.    His  themes  are  never  to  our  liking.'1 — Poe,  in  the 
"  A  utograjky" 

Griswold  describes  Whittier  as  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Anti- 
Slavery  Society.  Many  of  his  best  poems  relate  to  slavery,  they  have  a 
manly  vigour  of  thought  and  language,  and  breathe  the  spirit  of  true 
liberty. 

27  Griswold  predicts  for  Holmes  an  enduring  reputation  ;  says  he  pos- 
sesses a  rich  vein  of  humour,  with  learning  and  originality,  and  great 
skill  as  an  artist.     (See  note  13.) 

28  Griswold  describes  Hill  as  a  recluse,  with  a  style  severe,  some- 
times embarrassing. 

29  See  reference  to  this  word  "aidance,"  and  others,  in  Introduction. 

30  «<  More  extensively  known  in  his  clerical  than  in  a  literary  capacity." 
— Poe,  in  the  "Autography" 

In  his  Broadway  Journal  Poe  printed  an  amusing  caricature  rep- 
resenting Bishop  Doane  astride  of  the  devil,  holding  on  by  the  gigantic 
horns  while  soaring  over  Trinity  Church  steeple.  The  point  of  this  seems 
to  have  referred  to  the  temporary  suspension  of  the  Bishop,  pending  a 
legal  inquiry  into  some  charge  of  which  we  believe  he  was  acquitted. 

Griswold  included  Bishop  Doane  in  his  "  Poets,"  and  gave  several 
specimens,  adding  that  the  reverend  writer's  contributions  to  the  religi- 
ous literature  of  the  day  were  "more  numerous  and  valuable." 

31  "  Mr.  Clark  (Lewis  Gaylord)  once  did  me  the  honour  to  review  my 
poems,  and — I  forgive  him.     Mr.  C.  as  a  literary  man  is  as  smooth  as 
oil,  or  a  sermon  from  Doctor  Hawks  ;  he  is  noticeable  for  nothing  in  the 
world  except  for  the  markedness  by  which  he  is  noticeable  for  nothing." 
—Poe,  in  The  Literati. 

The  passage  in  the  satire  evidently  refers  to  the  then  deceased  brother 
of  the  above.  In  The  Literati  Poe  says  that  L.  G.  Clark  "is  known 
principally  as  the  twin  brother  of  the  late  Willis  Gaylord  Clark,  the 
poet,  of  Philadelphia." 

32  "  His  '  Hymns  to  the  Gods,'  and  *  Ode  to  the  Mocking  Bird,'  are 
the  chief  basis  of  his  reputation.     .     .     .     A  keen  sense  of  the  beautiful 
and  graceful,     .     .     .     picturesque     .     .     .     verging    on    effeminacy. 
In  force  he  is  deficient." — Poe,  in  the  "Autography" 

Griswold  introduces  Pike  as  the  son  of  a  journeyman  shoemaker.  He 
was  of  a  gloomy  temperament.  His  principal  poems  were  on  "The 
Gods."  In  a  brief  notice  of  The  Knickerbocker  magazine,  Poe  says  : 


NOTES.  7 

**  It  presents  its  customary  table  of  contents,  besides  a  grand  f&c*  d* 
resistance  composed  of  A.  Pike  " 

•«  Poe  had  probably  heard  that  he  had  been  suspected  of  plagiarizing 
the  refrain  idea  of  "  The  Raven,"  from  Pike's  poem  on  the  loss  of 
44  Isadore."  The  allusion  to  stealing  is  a  bold  one. 

As  a  descriptive  poet  Mr.  Street  is  to  be  highly  commended.  .  .  . 
He  appears,  however,  not  at  any  time  to  have  been  aware  that  mert  de- 
scription is  not  poetry  at  all  We  demand  creation.  About  Mr.  Street 
there  seems  to  be  no  spirit.  He  is  all  matter— substance— what  the 
chemists  would  call '  simple  substance  '—and  exceedingly  Minpi 
— Jfoyfes&s. 

»"Vda*c  "Its  merits  are  very  inconsiderable;  .  .  . 

to  those  who  meddle  little  with  books,  some  of  his  satiric  papers  must 
appear  brilliant."— Poe,  in  Tkt  Litt> 

In  the  Scmtkern  Litfrary  MttttHftr,  vol.  »ii.,  p.  305,  Poe  sums  up 
Sargent's  work  as  "flatter  than  stale  beer.** 

*  "  The  best  novelist  which  this  country  has,  upon  the  whole,  pro- 
duced. .  .  .  His  earlier  works  .  .  .  were  disfigured  by  many 
inaccuracies  of  style,  and  especially  by  the  prevalence  of  the  merely  re- 
pulsive, where  the  horrible  was  the  object  ;  but  in  invention,  in  vigour,  in 
movement,  in  the  power  of  exciting  interest  and  in  the  artistical  manage- 
ment of  his  themes,  be  has  surpassed,  we  think,  any  of  his  countrymen.*' 
—Poe,  in  Bro*<t-nn\y  7**r*ai,  October  4,  1845. 

(Simms  was  a  Southerner,  and  it  was  a  point  of  honour  with  Poe 
always  to  praise  the  South,  to  vex  the  hated  *'  Frogpondians"  of  the 

Monk 

"See  /«/jWav/*M  for  reference  to  Foe's  peculiarity  in  naming  "  An- 
gelo"  without  the  "Michael.*' 

(Compare  the  twenty  verses,  beginning  with  "Blest  art,  invention,** 
with  Poe's  "  Philosophy  of  Composition."  In  both  there  is  a  unique 
exaltation  of  inventiveness  and  new  forms  of  verse.] 

»  "  We  shall  premise  with  a  sh  rt  notice  on  the  art  of  versification  ; 
an  art  which  our  best  poets  are  ignorant  of  or  wilfully  misunderstand." 
—Poe's  critique  of  Griswold's  book. 

•*  Poetry,  in  its  most  confined  sense,  is  the  result  of  versification,  but 
may  be  more  properly  defined  as  tkt  rhythmical  Jtrumtfcatit*  oftx- 


'"  We  knew  very  well  that  among  (the  Bostonians)  there  existed  a 
predetermination  to  abuse  us  under  tiny  circumstances.  ...  The 
Frogpondians  may  as  well  spare  us  their  abuse.  If  we  cared  a  fig  for 


8  NOTES. 

their  wrath  we  should  not  first  have  insulted  them  to  their  teeth,  and 
then  subjected  to  their  tender  mercies  a  volume  of  our  Poems  : — that,  we 
think,  is  sufficiently  clear.  The  fact  is,  we  despise  them  and  defy  them 
(the  transcendental  vagabonds  !)  and  they  may  all  go  to  the  devil  to- 
gether."— Poe,  in  Broadway  Journal,  November  22,  1845. 

40  "  No  man  in  America  has  been  more  shamefully  overestimated  (than 
Rufus   Dawes).    .    .    .  These  stupidities.     .     .     .     His  works    .    .    . 
mere  verbiage.     .     .     .     There  is  not  a  page  of  anything  he  has  written 
which  will  bear  for  an  instant  the  scrutiny  of  a  critical  eye.     .     .     .     This 
abominable  rigmarole." — Poe,  in  The  Literati. 

41  Griswold  says,  "Mr.  Lowell  is  still  a  dreamer,  and  he  strives  in 
vain  to  make  his  readers  partners  in  his  dreamy  spiritual  fancies." 

"  But  for  some  slight  foreknowledge  of  the  literary  opinions,  likes, 
dislikes,  whims,  prejudices  and  crotchets  of  Mr.  James  Russell  Lowell, 
we  should  have  had  much  difficulty  in  attributing  so  very  loose  a  bro- 
chure ("Fable  for  the  Critics")  to  him.  .  .  .  Some  good  hints 
(?  hits)  and  some  sparkling  witticisms  do  not  serve  to  compensate  us  for 
its  rambling  plot  .  .  .  and  for  the  want  of  artistic  finish  so  particu- 
larly noticeable  throughout  the  work — especially  in  its  versification. 
.  .  .  Is  there  no  originality  on  the  face  of  the  earth  ?  Mr.  Lowell's 
total  want  of  it  is  shown  at  all  points.  .  .  .  It  is  a  fashion  among 
Mr.  Lowell's  set  to  affect  a  belief  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  South- 
ern Literature.  .  .  .  All  whom  he  praises  are  Bostonians.  Other 
writers  are  barbarian*,  and  satirized  accordingly — if  mentioned  at  all. 
To  show  the  general  manner  of  the  fable,  we  quote  a  portion  of  what 
he  says  about  Mr.  Poe  : 

Here  comes  Poe  with  his  Raven,  like  Barnaby  Rudge— 
Three-fifths  of  him  genius,  and  two-fifths  sheer  fudge  ; 
Who  talks  like  a  book  of  iambs  and  pentameters, 
In  a  way  to  make  all  men  of  common  sense  d — n  metres  ; 
Who  has  written  some  things  far  the  best  of  their  kind  ; 
But  somehow  the  heart  seems  squeezed  out  by  the  mind. 

.  .  .  Mr.  Lowell  should  not  have  meddled  with  the  anapaestic  rhythm ; 
it  is  exceedingly  awkward  in  the  hands  of  one  who  knows  nothing 
about  it  and  who  ivill  persist  in  fancying  he  can  write  it  by  ear.  .  .  . 
As  it  is,  no  failure  was  ever  more  complete  or  more  pitiable.  .  .  . 
(He  should)  leave  prose,  with  satiric  verse,  to  those  who  are  able  to 
manage  them,  while  he  contents  himself  with  that  class  of  poetry  for 
which,  and  for  which  alone,  he  seems  to  have  an  especial  vocation— the 
poetry  of  sentiment.  This,  to  be  sure,  is  not  the  very  loftiest  order  of 


NO:  9 

verse  ;  for  it  is  far  inferior  to  either  that  of  the  imagination  or  that  of  the 
passions—  but  it  is  the  loftiest  region  in  which  Mr.  Lowell  can  get  his 
breath  without  difficulty."—  Poe,  in  The  Literati. 

0  Goodrich  was  the  maker-up  of  the  once  popular  M  Peter  Parley's 
Annual,"  and  ^occasionally  dabbled  in  mild  verse. 

"  Poe  constantly  girded  at  the  Boston  School  of  Poets.  In  his  "  Po- 
etic Principle  "  he  says  : 

"It  was  the  misfortune  of  Mr.  Pinckney  to  have  been  born  too  far 
south.  Had  he  been  a  New  Englandcr.  it  is  probable  that  he  would  have 
been  ranked  as  the  first  of  American  lyrists  by  that  magnanimous  cabal 
which  has  so  long  controlled  the  destinies  of  American  letters  in  conduct- 
h*fe«^c»Jbd'n*Jir**taw'iMJMkm*N  More  than  once 
in  his  other  writings  Poe  ridicules  the  pundits  of  Frog  pondium.  To- 
wards 1847.  for  various  reasons,  he  considerably  modified  his  harsh  criti- 
cisms of  Longfellow,  Lowell,  and  the  rest. 

"  Much  as  we  admire  the  genius  of  Mr.  LongfeDow  we  are  fully  sen- 

*  •  '    •  '         '       .....       '  '        '  '          •       •        -  '  •       •  i   ;  •  .      . 

great  and  his  ideality  high.  But  his  conception  of  the  *i*u  of  poesy  * 
off  wretif."—Poc  oo  Longftlforv. 

"Mr.  Longfellow,  decidedly  the  most  audacious  imitator  in  America, 
is  markedly  original,  or.  in  other  words,  imaginative,  upon  the  whole." 
—Marfi*alia.  (.See  note  24.) 

"The  poetic  sentiment  (even  without  reference  to  the  poetic  power) 
implies  a  peculiarly,  perhaps  an  abnormally  keen  appreciation  of  the 
beautiful,  with  a  longing  lor  its  assimilation,  or  absorption,  into  toe  po* 
ctk  identity.  What  the  poet  intensely  admires  tiBBoan  thus,  in  very 
fact,  although  only  partially,  a  portion  of  his  own  inteflecf-Poe  Oft 


««  Poe  her*  indulges  his  sarcasm  at  the  Cariylean  style.  In  one  ol 
hisrefcmw»toith<»peak»()ftr^  "jarring,  inappcopciate,  mean,  and 
in  every  way  monstrous  assemblages  of  false  imagery  u  the  urces  of 
Carlyle."  -Poe  on  Brainard.  in  Tkt  Littrnti. 

«GnVwold  includes  about  150  writers  in  his  "  Poets  of  America."  Of 
these  about  so  are  generally  fanuliar  names,  though  perhaps  few  aver- 
age readers  could  name  particular  poems  by  each  of  them.  Among 
those  whom  Griswold  treats  with  the  very  scantiest  notice  is  Poe,  who  is 
almost  the  only  one  upon  whose  poetic  qualities  Griswold  says  absolutely 
nothing.  Out  of  Griswold'  s  150  immortals  the  following  are  undoubted- 
ly the  first  seven  ;  we  give  them  in  alphabetical  order  :  Bryant,  Hal- 
leek,  Holmes,  Longfellow,  Lowell,  Poe,  Whittkr. 


10  NOTES. 

46  The  conceits  of  Mr.  Cranch,    .    .     .    he  is  full  of  conceits    .    .     . 
but  the  conceits  of  Mr.  Cranch  are,  for  the  most  part,  conceits  intention- 
ally manufactured,  for  conceit's  sake.     .     .     .     We  see  every  moment 
that  he  has  been  at  uncommon  fains  to  make  a  fool  of  himself." — Poe, 
in  The  Literati. 

Griswold  quotes  Bishop  Doane  as  saying  that  "  Crosswell  has  more 
unwritten  poetry  in  him  than  any  man  he  knows."  Crosswell  was  a 
clergyman. 

47  "  Whenever  a  book  is  abused,  people  take  it  for  granted  that  it  is  I 
who  have  been  abusing  it." — Poe,  in  "Marginalia" 

48  The  Harbinger  (1845)  said  that  Poe's  fame  was  "  degenerating 
into  notoriety,  through  a  certain  blackguard  warfare  which  he  had  been 
waging  against  the  poets  and  newspaper  critics  of  New  England,  and 
which  it  would  be  most  charitable  to  impute  to  insanity." 

49  In  his  article  on  "  Mr.  Longfellow  and  other  Plagiarists,"  Poe  thus 
resents  "  the  insufferable  cant  and  shameless  misrepresentation,  prac- 
tised habitually  by  just  such  anonymous  enemies  as  '  Outis,'  with  the 
view  of  decrying  by  sheer  strength  of  lungs — of  trampling  down — of 
rioting  down — of  mobbing  down  any  man  with  a  soul  that  bids  him  come 
out  from  among  the  general  corruption  of  our  public  press,  and  take  his 
stand  upon  the  open  ground  of  rectitude  and  honour.     ...     In  re- 
gard to  my  own  course    ...    I  will  now  unscrupulously  call  the  at- 
tention of  the  '  Outises '  to  the  fact  that  it  was  during  what  they  would 
insinuate  to  be  the  unpopularity  of  my  *  wholesale  mangling  of  the  vic- 
tims without  rhyme  or  reason,'  that,  in  one  year,  the  circulation  of  the 
Southern  Messenger  extended  itself  from  seven  hundred  to  nearly  five 
thousand,  and  that  in  little  more  than  twice  the  same  time,  Graham 's 
Magazine  swelled  its  list  from  five  thousand  to  fifty-two  thousand  sub- 
scribers.    I  make  no  apology  for  these  egotisms,     .     .     .     for  in  myself 
I  am  but  defending  a  set  of  principles  which  no  honest  man  need  be 
ashamed  of  defending,  and  for  whose  defence  no  honest  man  will  con- 
sider an  apology  required.     ...     I  have  to  refute  only  the  accusation 
of  mangling  by  wholesale — and  I  refute  it  by  the  simplest  reference  to 
fact.    What  I  have  written  remains,  and  is  readily  accessible  in  any  of 
our  public  libraries." 

"The  manner  in  which  we  are  maltreated,  of  late  days  is  really 
awful  to  behold.  Everybody  is  at  us— little  dogs  and  all."— Poe,  in 
Broadway  Journal,  December  6,  1845. 

80  "  In  the  late  lecture  on  the  *  Poets  and  Poetry  of  America,'  de- 
livered before  an  audience  made  up  chiefly  of  editors  and  their  connec- 
tions, I  took  occasion  to  speak  what  I  know  to  be  the  truth,  and  I  endeav- 


NOTES.  I  i 

cured  so  to  speak  it  that  there  should  be  no  chance  of  misunderstanding 
what  it  was  I  intended  to  say.  I  told  these  gentlemen  to  their  teeth,  that, 
with  a  very  few  noble  exceptions,  they  had  been  engaged  for  many 
yean  in  a  system  of  indiscrimii.ate  laudation  of  American  books — a 
system  which,  more  than  any  other  one  thing  in  the  world,  had  tended 
to  the  depression  of  that  '  American  Literature  '  whose  elevation  it  was 
designed  to  effect.  I  said  this,  and  very  much  more  of  a  similar  ten- 
dency, with  as  thorough  a  distinctness  as  I  could  command.  Could  I, 
at  the  moment,  have  invented  any  terms  more  explicit,  wherewith  to  ex- 
press my  contempt  of  our  general  editorial  course  of  corruption  and 
puffery,  I  should  have  employed  them  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  ;— 
and  should  I  think  of  anything  more  expressive  hereafter^  I  will  en- 
deavour either  to  find  or  to  make  an  opportunity  for  its  introduction  Jo 
the  public. 

"  And  what,  for  all  this,  had  I  to  anticipate  ?  In  a  very  few  cases  the 
open,  and,  in  several,  the  silent  approval  of  the  more  chivalrous  portion  of 
the  press ;— but  in  a  majority  of  msttum,  I  should  have  been  weak  in- 
deed to  look  for  anything  but  abuse.  .  .  .  To  my  vfliners  I  return 
also  such  thanks  as  they  deserve,  inasmuch  as  without  what  they  have 
done  me  the  honour  to  say,  there  would  have  been  much  of  point  want- 
ing  In  the  compliments  of  my  friends.  Had  I,  indeed,  from  the  former 
received  any  less  equivocal  tokens  of  disapprobation,  I  should,  at  this 
•oment,  have  been  looking  about  me  to  discover  what  sad  blunder  I 
had  committed.  I  am  mot*  sincere  in  what  I  i»y."-Poe,  in 


IN  PREPARATION— TO  BE  ISSUED  IN   THE  FALL 


SELECTION 


FROM    THE 


POETRYoELEIGH  HUNT 


With  a  Prefatory  Sketch  and  a  reproduction 
of  a  portrait  in  water  colors 

Y      SIR      DAVID     \VILKI 

Hitherto  unpublished  and  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  publishers 


To  be  daintily  printed  in  a   12mo   volume 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


THIS  BOOK  IS 


YA  02144 


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Wy^XS£??o<5$ 


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